Second Lieutenant Frederic William CATON (1903)

2nd Battalion, Special Brigade, Royal Engineers
Born 26 September 1884 in Sussex
Killed in action 28 June 1916, aged 31
Buried at Tranchée de Meknès Cemetery, Aix-Noulette, Pas-de-Calais, France. Also commemorated on a wooden war shrine at St Paul’s Church, Brighton.

Frederic Caton was the son of Edwin Charles Caton and Olivia, née Cole, of 6 Waterloo St, Hove, Brighton.

He was educated at Brighton Grammar School, and read Chemistry at Merton. He went on to work at the Wellcome Chemical Research Laboratories, and taught at East London College, at Taunton School, and in Staffordshire. In 1907 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

He joined the Inns of Court Officers Training Corps in April 1915, and after training at Berkhamsted was gazetted on 21 June, joining the 11th South Staffordshire Regiment in July. It was recognised, however, that his scientific knowledge should be utilised, and he was therefore sent to the Staff College at Cambridge for special training. In March, 1916, he was transferred to the recently-formed Special Brigade of the Royal Engineers, responsible for the use of poison gas, and soon afterwards proceeded to France.

He was killed in action at Bully-Grenay, on 28 June 1916.