Name
Thompson Capper (KCMG, CB, DSO)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/09/1915
51
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Major General
East Lancashire Regiment
7th Division (Commanding)
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Distinguished Service Order, Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Companion of the Order of the Bath, Mentioned in Despatches three times
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LILLERS COMMUNAL CEMETERY
In front of II. A.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Haileybury College Cloister Wall Memorial, Hertford Heath
Chapel Window, Haileybury College Memorial Screen to Past Pupils in the Chapel, Haileybury College
Rayne Memorial Cross, Essex
Pre War
Born on 20 Oct 1863 in Lucknow, India son of William and Sarah (Copeland) Capper. Educated at Haileybury College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He married Winifride Mary Gerard Dicconson, grand-daughter of Lord Robert Tolver Gerard of Garswood, Lancashire on 15 Oct 1908 in St James, Spanish Place, London and had one son. Gazetted Lieutenant 9 Sep 1882, Captain 22 Apr 1891, Major 5 Dec 1901 and Major General 12 May 1914. Served with the Egyptian Army, in India and in South Africa at the Relief of Ladysmith and Spion Kop.
Wartime Service
He was appointed to Command the 7th Infantry Division and arrived at Zeebrugge with the British Expeditionary Force on 6 Oct 1914. His mission was the defence of Antwerp, but by then Antwerp had fallen. After fierce fighting the division had lost 10,000 of its 12,000 fighting men and the division retreated back to Ypres. He was injured accidentally by a grenade during a demonstration and recovered in England sufficiently to return to command the 7th Division on 19 Jul 1915. He died of wounds sustained from a sniper while reconnoitring German positions at the assault of the Quarries during the Battle of Loos and died in Number 6 Casualty Clearing Station.
Additional Information
He was one of the fifteen most senior officers killed in WW1.
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Karen Smith - Acting Director of External Relations www.haileybury.com/honour
