Norman Hepple was born in 1908 and lived and worked in London. He was the son of Robert Hepple the painter and nephew of Wilson Hepple the Northumberland animal painter. The Hepple family came from the village of Hepple in Northumberland. Educated at Colfe's Grammar School Blackheath, he went on to study at Goldsmiths College School of Art and from there to the Royal Academy Schools to study under Sir Walter Russell. In 1948 he was elected member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and was President from 1979 to 1983. In 1954 he became an Associate of the Royal Academy. During the World War II Hepple joined the London Fire Service and became an Official War Artist to the National Fire Service. His war paintings are exhibited in the Imperial War Museum. Hepple died in 1994.