Jack Catchpool
(Egerton) St John Pettifor Catchpool CBE (1890-1971) also known as Jack Catchpool was a social worker who served as the warden of Toynbee Hall, London. He was general secretary of the Youth Hostels Association from its inception in 1930 until 1950.[1]
Jack Catchpool CBE | |
|---|---|
| Warden of Toynbee Hall | |
| In office 1963–1964 | |
| Preceded by | Arthur Eustace Morgan |
| Succeeded by | Walter Birmingham |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 August 1890 Leicester, UK |
| Died | 13 March 1971 (aged 80) Welwyn Garden City, UK |
| Education | Sidcot School Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre |
Early life
He attended the Quaker institutions Sidcot School and Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre.[2]
Career
During the First World War, Catchpool served with the Friends' Ambulance Unit in France and then with the Friends' war victims' relief committee in Russia.[2]
After the war, he held the post of sub-warden of Toynbee Hall from 1920 to 1929. He was a member of the London County Council education committee from 1925 to 1931.[2]
From 1930 to 1950 he served as the first general secretary of the Youth Hostels Association, and in 1938 he was elected president of the International Youth Hostel Federation.[2]
Personal life
He married Ruth Allason in 1920 and they had five children.[1]
His older brother was Corder Catchpool.[3]
He was appointed chevalier of the Dutch Order of Orange-Nassau in 1948 and Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1951.
He died at his home in Welwyn Garden City, Herfordshire, on 13 March 1971.[2]
Publications
- Candles in the Darkness. London: Bannisdale Press, 1966
References
- "Toynbee Hall Annual Report 1971". Toynbee Hall. 1971. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- Heath, Graham (2004). "Catchpool, (Egerton) St John Pettifor". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37268. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Freeman, Mark (2010). "Fellowship, Service and the 'Spirit of Adventure': the Religious Society of Friends and the outdoors movement in Britain, c.1900–1950". Quaker Studies. 14 (1): 72–92.
Further reading
- Simpson, Duncan M. (2020). Youth Hostel Pioneer: Peace, Travels, Adventure and the Life of Jack Catchpool. Duncan M. Simpson Writing. ISBN 9781713110637.