In November 1870 Frederick Henry Norman, a partner  and later director of Martin’s Bank, married Lina Susan Penelope Collett who was born in 1850. She was the daughter of Mark Wilks Collet, a banker with Brown Shipley who lived in Croydon and later was a governor of the Bank of England.

Their son Montagu Collet was born the following year, Ronald in November 1873 and Gertrude in 1877 shortly before Frederick took over the lease of Hayes Court.   With his young family he arrived at Hayes Court in 1878, an area well known to him as he was born and had lived at the family home on Bromley Common.  In 1881 Emily Dagg was the governess of his children. Montagu was the first son to leave home and go to Eton School in 1884.

Montagu would later became one of the outstanding governors of the Bank of England advising on the great economic crisis of the 1930s.  His brother Ronald chaired the BBC in the 1920s and Gertrude married a Scottish landowner.  Their early childhood, however, was spent at Hayes Court where they were encouraged to enjoy all sports, following the hounds on their ponies and learning to shoot. Frederick was a very keen cricketer who played for England on at least ten occasions and occasionally appeared for Hayes. On 24 August 1877 Hayes had a resounding victory over West Kent mainly due to Henry Norman’s great second wicket partnership with J Robertson when he scored 91 and also caught the last two batsmen off Robertson’s bowling. Keen to encourage his sons he employed as their coach Joseph Wells from Bromley, the father of H G Wells and a professional cricketer.

By 1887 Frederick wanted to find a more substantial house and unable to find one locally he moved to Moor Place in Hertfordshire.