Catchpole
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Catchpole is a surname and type of tax collector in medieval England. It is a combination of Old English (cace-, catch) and medieval Latin (pullus, a chick) and derives from the idea that people who owed tax were as difficult to catch as farmyard hens.[1] The Catchpole name is from Dorset, southern England.
At that time, tax-gathering was contracted out in a system called tax farming. The catchpole paid a lump sum for authority to collect taxes from a given area or population, and was then able to keep whatever he could, using almost any method. Later, his duties were those of a legal official, working for the bailiff. He was mainly responsible for collecting debts, using methods hardly more restrained than those of his tax gathering forebears.[1]
Notable bearers
[edit]- Brent Catchpole, New Zealand politician
- Hugh Catchpole, academician and administrator
- George Catchpole (born 1994), British rugby player
- Henry Catchpole (disambiguation), multiple people
- James Morrison Catchpole, birth name of English singer-songwriter James Morrison
- Jordan Catchpole (born 1999), British Paralympic swimmer
- Judith Catchpole, colonial American maidservant
- Ken Catchpole (1939–2017), Australian rugby player
- Kylie Catchpole, Australian solar energy researcher
- Margaret Catchpole, British deportee to Australia
In fiction
[edit]- Eric Catchpole, character in the British series Lovejoy
- Tristan Catchpole, character in the television series Starhunter
References
[edit]- ^ a b World Wide Words: Issue 825: 30 March 2013, 'Catchpole'
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