Stanley Norris was born on 23 November 1879 at Morice Town, Devonport, the eldest of five children of John Vickers Norris, a Royal Navy Leading Seaman, and his wife Elizabeth Kate (née Shepherd).  His father died in 1898, and his mother then worked as a  tailoress.

He joined the Devonport Boys’ training ship HMS IMPREGNABLE in April 1895, and subsequently served for three years in the cruiser HMS PHAETON on the Pacific Station where he was rated Able Seaman in December 1898. He qualified as a Torpedoman in 1901, and served in the cruisers MONMOUTH, EUROPA and ARGYLL before joining the submarine depot ship HMS FORTH in July 1907 where he remained until January 1913.  In 1912 he was awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. He joined HMS DOLPHIN in May 1913 and on 1 December 1913 was loaned to the Royal Australian Navy for 3 years for service with submarine spare crew.  

He is understood to have joined HMAS AE2 for the passage to Australia between February and May 1914, and was then drafted to HMAS PENGUIN. He was drafted to the RAN London Depot ‘for Submarines’ on 1 January 1915 and joined the submarine depot ship HMS ADAMANT as spare crew. At the end of March 1915, ADAMANT left Harwich for Mudros to be depot ship for submarines engaged in the Dardanelles campaign. HMAS AE2 was the first submarine to penetrate the Dardanelles on 25 April, but was subsequently attacked and scuttled on 30 April.

Stanley Norris is reported to have died of dysentery on 2 August 1915. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial, but no record of his burial has been found.

He left a widow, Margaret (née Collins), whom he had married in 1902, and three children.