Claud Castleton

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Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross

title: "Claud Castleton" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1893-births", "1916-deaths", "military-personnel-from-suffolk", "australian-battle-of-the-somme-recipients-of-the-victoria-cross", "australian-army-soldiers", "people-from-lowestoft", "australian-military-personnel-killed-in-world-war-i"] description: "Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claud_Castleton" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox military person"]

Field	Value
name	Claud Charles Castleton
image	Claud Castleton H06769.jpg
image_size	175
alt	Portrait of 1352 Sergeant Claud Charles Castleton, 5th Company, Australian Machine Gun Corps
caption	Sergeant Claud Castleton, 1915–16
birth_date
birth_place	Kirkley, Lowestoft, England
death_date
death_place	Pozières, France
allegiance	Australia
branch	Australian Army
serviceyears	1915–16
rank	Sergeant
unit	5th Machine Gun Company, 5th Brigade
awards	Victoria Cross
::

First World War
- Battle of the Somme
  - Battle of Pozières |awards= Victoria Cross |relations= |laterwork= ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Pozieres_British_Cemetery_5.JPG" caption="Castleton's grave"] ::

Claud Charles Castleton, VC (12 April 1893 – 29 July 1916) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Early life

Claud Castleton was born in Kirkley, Lowestoft, England. Educated at a council school, he won a scholarship to the grammar school. In 1912 he set off on a long adventure, stopping first at Melbourne, Australia. He worked in various parts of Australia before heading to New Guinea, intending to earn funds for the return journey to England via New Zealand, India and Africa. Matters changed with the outbreak of the First World War; he joined the Australian force formed in New Guinea for the defence of the area in the face of German warship activities.

First World War

In March 1915 Castleton returned to Sydney and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He subsequently served at Gallipoli, where he earned promotion. He later transferred to the Australian Machine Gun Corps. He was 23 years old, and a sergeant in the 5th Machine Gun Company, 5th Brigade, 2nd Division when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

::quote On the night of the 28/29 July 1916 near [[Battle of Pozières ::

Castleton is buried at Pozières British Military Cemetery, Somme, France, 3 miles NE of Albert (Plot IV, Row L, Grave 43). The inscription on his gravestone reads: A NOBLE LIFE LAID DOWN FOR FREEDOM WE SHALL MEET OUR LOVED ONE AGAIN.

Legacy

Castleton's Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Castleton Crescent in the Canberra suburb of Gowrie was named in his honour. There is a brass plaque to him at the former South Cliff Congregational Church, now St Nicholas's Catholic Church, in south Lowestoft.

Notes

References

Wigmore 1986, p. 48.
{{London Gazette. (22 June 1915)
{{CWGC
[http://www.actpla.act.gov.au/tools_resources/maps_land_survey/place_names/place_search?sq_content_src=%2BdXJsPWh0dHAlM0ElMkYlMkZ3d3cuYWN0bWFwaS5hY3QuZ292LmF1JTJGUGxhY2VOYW1lcyUyRlBsYWNlRGV0YWlscy5hc3B4JTNGb2JqZWN0SUQlM0Q2NDg2JmFsbD0x Castleton Crescent], ACT placenames, www.actpla.act.gov.au
[http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/pakefieldrc.html] Suffolk Churches site

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::