CWGC thanks the Thiepval Database Project for this story. It summarises information held at the Thiepval Visitor Centre.

Charles was one of the nine children of George and Elizabeth Catchpole, of Eddystone House, Kessingland, Lowestoft. His father was a well-known boat owner (also known as Mouse).

He was employed as a clerk in the office of the Lowestoft Fish Selling Company, of which his father was a director.

He enlisted early in the war and by October 1914 had been promoted to lance corporal whilst still undergoing training at Shorncliffe. He went to France on 25th July 1915 and was awarded the Military Medal as sergeant (14243) of the 8th Battalion for actions on 19th July 1916 (gazetted on 10th August 1916). 

That day the battalion took part in a counter-attack to clear the village of Longueval and nearby Delville Wood. Especially strong resistance was encountered near the church in Longueval the attack had only limited success with gains of just a few hundred yards.

He was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 7th Suffolks on 20th September and was killed a few weeks later.

Charles died on 12th October 1916, aged 21 in the attack on Bayonet Trench, near Gueudecourt. This German-held position was a key objective for British forces. The advance was held up close to the German lines by uncut barbed wire and machine-gun nests. The supporting artillery barrage was ineffective in silencing the German defenses. The waves of soldiers were unable to proceed and were forced to seek cover in shell holes.

The Battalion had 500 casualties, including all 14 officers who went over the top that day, as part of the battle of Le Transloy. Of those casualties Eleven officers and 111 men were killed. These included Charles and his boyhood friend and neighbour, Victor Tripp(*).

Second Lieutenant, Charles Edward Catchpole MM of the 7th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, has no known grave and is commemorated on Pier and face 1C of the Thiepval Memorial in France.

He is also commemorated on his sister’s, Ethel Strowger, gravestone in Kessingland churchyard and a war memorial tablet in St Edmund's Church, Kessingland, presented by his mother in 1932, replacing an earlier wooden memorial.