Thompson Capper

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Sir Thompson Capper
Mention in dispatches
(2)

First World War. At the Battle of Loos in 1915, Capper was shot by a sniper as he reconnoitered the front line during an assault by his division on German positions. He died the next day in a casualty clearing station
from wounds to both lungs; his grave is in the nearby Lillers Communal Cemetery.

Capper was an active and vigorous soldier who had been wounded just six months before his death in an accidental grenade detonation. Shortly before this wound he had been knighted by

King George V for his service in command of his division during the First Battle of Ypres. Field Marshal Sir John French commented upon his death that "he was a most distinguished and capable leader and his death will be severely felt."[1] He was also a keen military historian and his collected papers are currently stored at the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at King's College London
.

Early career

Thompson Capper was born in October 1863 to William and Sarah Capper (née Copeland). William Capper was a civil servant with the Bengal Civil Service and Sarah was the daughter of industrialist William Copeland. Thompson and his elder brother John were born in Lucknow but at a young age were sent to England for their education.[2] Thompson Capper attended Haileybury and Imperial Service College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst before being commissioned into the East Lancashire Regiment as a lieutenant on 9 September 1882.[3]

He was employed on home service for the next ten years and whilst serving as regimental

major on 16 November 1898.[8]

South African service

The following year, 1899, Capper and his regiment were again engaged in Africa, being transported to

Mentioned in Despatches.[11][12][13] Capper returned to the United Kingdom in the SS Dunottar Castle, which arrived at Southampton in July 1902.[14]

Staff career

After his return, Capper was initially selected as a

Douglas Haig, with whom he did not get on and Hubert Gough, who admired his "spirit of self-sacrifice and duty, instead of the idea of playing for safety and seeking only to avoid getting into trouble".[2] He also amassed a prodigious collection of military literature during his research and teaching.[20]

In 1906 he was promoted to temporary

Major-General[26] and posted to the regular 7th Division, which was sent to the Western Front.[6]

First World War

During the opening months of the war, Capper busied himself with organising the new division placed under his command;

Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in early 1915.[29][30]

Remaining on the front lines during the winter of 1914–1915, Capper's men held the German advance and were given some respite in early 1915 with the arrival of territorial divisions. It was during one of these rest periods that Capper was seriously wounded when in April 1915 he was struck in the shoulder by shrapnel from a "Jam-tin bomb" during a demonstration of improvised grenades being held behind the lines.[2] He was temporarily replaced by General Gough and returned to England to convalesce, but was back with the 7th Division on 19 July 1915.[6]

Battle of Loos

CWGC gravestone for Thompson Capper

In late September 1915, the division was assigned to participate in the Battle of Loos against fortified German positions at Loos-en-Gohelle and Hulluch. Advancing on 26 September against furious German opposition, the 7th Division was held up several times and Capper visited the frontline to view the enemy for himself from the captured trenches. Urging his men into a final assault, Capper stayed behind to view the field and was struck by a sniper's bullet fired from houses along the line of advance which were thought to have been abandoned.[6] The assault failed and Capper was discovered by his retreating units and taken to Number 6 Casualty Clearing Station at Lillers to the rear of British lines[6] personally by Captain O'Reilly, a medical officer. O'Reilly had gone out at 8pm to bring Capper in from the battlefield (the war diary suggests that Capper had been wounded at 5.50pm) and had arranged for the wound to be dressed at the Divisional Collecting Station before onward transfer to the CCS – O'Reilly was subsequently recommended for the Military Cross.[31] The bullet had penetrated both lungs, and doctors gave no hope of survival. Major-General Sir Thompson Capper died the following day, on 27 September 1915[32] in the casualty clearing station. His division had lost over 5,200 men killed or wounded in just three days of fighting.[6]

Following his death, a rumour abounded that he had been killed charging the German lines on horseback.[2] This story has persisted despite eye-witness accounts to the contrary.[6] Capper was buried in Lillers Communal Cemetery behind British lines and his grave is marked by a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone bearing the inscription TOMMY.[33] He is also commemorated on the War Memorial in Rayne, Essex, where he spent much of his boyhood with his uncle, the Rector of Rayne, Rev W S Hemming. His collected papers were donated to King's College London in 1971, where they are still available to researchers and contain a wide selection of primary materials concerning the warfare of the early twentieth century.[20]

References

  1. ^ Sir John French's Ninth Despatch, The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 9 July 2007 Archived 13 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32285
    . Retrieved 14 January 2008
  3. ^ "No. 25145". The London Gazette. 8 September 1882. p. 4178.
  4. ^ "No. 26115". The London Gazette. 16 December 1890. p. 7052.
  5. ^ "No. 26160". The London Gazette. 12 May 1891. p. 2543.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k P.53-54, Bloody Red Tabs, Davies & Maddocks
  7. ^ "No. 26934". The London Gazette. 1 February 1898. p. 579.
  8. ^ Hart′s army list, 1903
  9. ^ "No. 27388". The London Gazette. 17 December 1901. p. 8917.
  10. ^ "No. 27490". The London Gazette. 31 October 1902. p. 6902.
  11. ^ Old Haileyburians Who Died in the Service of Their Country 1915, Haileybury School. Retrieved 9 July 2007
  12. ^ "No. 27282". The London Gazette. 8 February 1901. p. 943.
  13. ^ "No. 27459". The London Gazette. 29 July 1902. pp. 4837–4845.
  14. ^ "The Army in South Africa – Troops returning home". The Times. No. 36814. London. 8 July 1902. p. 11.
  15. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36854. London. 23 August 1902. p. 8.
  16. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36950. London. 13 December 1902. p. 12.
  17. ^ "No. 27513". The London Gazette. 6 September 1903. p. 110.
  18. ^ "No. 27743". The London Gazette. 13 December 1904. p. 8561.
  19. ^ "No. 27921". The London Gazette. 12 June 1906. p. 4078.
  20. ^ a b Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London. Retrieved 9 July 2007
  21. ^ "No. 27928". The London Gazette. 3 July 1906. p. 4556.
  22. ^ "No. 27946". The London Gazette. 4 September 1906. p. 6015.
  23. ^ "No. 28388". The London Gazette (Supplement to the London Gazette Extraordinary). 23 June 1910. pp. 4475–4476.
  24. ^ "No. 28471". The London Gazette. 3 March 1911. pp. 1635–1638.
  25. ^ "No. 28800". The London Gazette. 10 February 1914. p. 1094.
  26. ^ "No. 28830". The London Gazette. 12 May 1914. p. 3838.
  27. ^ "No. 28933". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 October 1914. p. 8115.
  28. ^ "No. 28992". The London Gazette. 1 December 1914. p. 10158.
  29. ^ "No. 29074". The London Gazette (4th supplement). 16 February 1915. p. 1686.
  30. ^ "No. 29102". The London Gazette. 16 March 1915. p. 2621.
  31. ^ Brian Curragh, "A great victory all but gained": The Battle of Loos 1915 in Spencer Jones (Ed), 'Courage Without Glory', Helion, Solihull, 2015
  32. ^ "No. 29347". The London Gazette (4th supplement). 29 October 1915. p. 10756.
  33. ^ "Casualty Details: Capper, Sir Thompson". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 29 January 2018.

Bibliography

  • Frank Davies & Graham Maddocks (1995). Bloody Red Tabs. Leo Cooper.
    ISBN 0-85052-463-6
    .
Military offices
Preceded by Commandant of the Staff College, Quetta
1906–1911 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
New post
 GOC 7th Division
1914–1915 		Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC 7th Division
July – September 1915 		Succeeded by

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