Researching Charles Eaton

In 1939, on the eve of World War II, Eaton became the inaugural commanding officer of No. 12 (General Purpose) Squadron at the newly established RAAF Station Darwin in Northern Australia. He was promoted group captain in 1940, and appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire the following year. In 1943, he took command of No. 79 Wing at Batchelor, Northern Territory, and was mentioned in despatches during operations in the South West Pacific. Retiring from the RAAF in December 1945, Eaton took up diplomatic posts in the Dutch East Indies, heading a United Nations commission as Consul-General during the Indonesian National Revolution. He returned to Australia in 1950, and served in Canberra for a further two years. Popularly known as "Moth" Eaton, he was a farmer in later life, and died in 1979 aged 83. He is commemorated by several memorials in the Northern Territory.

Eaton was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated from Cambridge University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1849, which was converted to a Master of Arts in 1852. He played first-class cricket in three matches between 1847 and 1853. His first game in 1847 was for a so-called "England" eleven that included some of the foremost cricketers of the day; his other first-class matches were for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and he did not play in any important games while at Cambridge University.

He was a director of the Eaton, Cayley & Co. Bank in Stamford (later The Stamford, Spalding and Boston Banking Co.) in which his father Stephen Ormston Eaton (1780–1834) had been a partner. His mother Charlotte Anne Eaton ( Waldie), as well as being a published author, carried on the banking business as senior partner after the death of her husband until her own death in 1859. The bank was amalgamated into Barclays in 1911.

He was a generous benefactor of the Roman Catholic Church of St Mary and St Augustine, Stamford, purchasing the site and paying for an organ.

Eaton bought the Tolethorpe estate in 1864 and carried out a major reconstruction of the hall and formal gardens. He was also a justice of the peace for Northamptonshire, the Liberty of Peterborough and Rutland, and was Sheriff of Rutland in 1864. He married Elizabeth Jane, daughter of Robert Hedley of Sidbrook, Somerset, in 1858, and their son, Hubert, was also Sheriff of Rutland in 1906.