Baptised on 3 March 1634, he was the eldest surviving son of Richard Catlin IV (1583-1662) of Kirby Cane, MP, by his second wife Dorothy Neville (1605-1672), a daughter of landowner and politician Sir Henry Nevill (d.1615) of Billingbear, by his wife Anne Killigrew, a daughter of Henry Killigrew.
His father had supported the King in the Civil War and had been disabled from sitting in Parliament in 1644 and suffered sequestration of his estate, but was discharged without fine in 1647.
His elder half-sister Mary Catlin married Sir Edward Ward, 1st Baronet, of Bixley.
[4] In addition to these local activities he entered national politics, first standing at a by-election for the county seat of Norfolk in 1675 but losing after a considerable outlay.
[4] In the 1685 general election he was unopposed as one of the two members for the city of Norwich in Norfolk, and was listed among those opposed to King James II, who had espoused the Roman Catholic religion.
Dying in July 1702, he was buried at Kirby Cane[4] and was succeeded by his younger brother Richard Catlin V (1636 – 1711), who never married.