Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of Charles Cattell a grocer, born 1860 in Leicester and his wife Amelia Marriott Cattell, born 1856 in Leicester, Edwin James was born in 1897 in Leicester, his siblings were, William Deacon Cattell, born 1885, Edith Stokes Cattell, born 1887, Mabel Ruth, born 1891 and Charles Henry, born 1896, all his siblings were born in Leicester, in March 1901 the family home was at 119, Great Holme Street, Leicester. In April 1911 Edwin was a scholar and was residing in the family home at 90, Great Holme Street, Leicester, together with his father, now a grocery branch manager, his mother and siblings, William, Edith, Mabel and Charles, also residing with the family was his widowed maternal grandfather Henry Stokes, born 1820 in Long Clawson, Leics.