William Capper

Colonel William Baume Capper CVO (6 February 1856 – 15 January 1934) was a British Army officer who became Commandant of the Royal Military College Sandhurst.

William Capper
Born	(1856-02-06)6 February 1856 Bath, Somerset, England
Died	15 January 1934(1934-01-15) (aged 77) Bath, Somerset, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Years of service	1876–1913
Rank	Colonel
Commands	Royal Military College, Sandhurst
Battles / wars	World War I
Awards	Commander of the Royal Victorian Order

Military career

Capper was born on 6 February 1856 at Newbridge Hill, Bath, Somerset,^[1] his father William Copeland Capper having been in the Bengal Civil Service. Educated at Haileybury,^[2] Capper was commissioned into the 85th Regiment of Foot in 1876^[3] and subsequently played cricket for Shropshire^[4] in 1882-83 and for Staffordshire.^[1]

He became adjutant of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry in 1886.^[5] He served in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War and in the Mahdist War in Sudan from 1884 to 1885.^[6]

He was director of military education in India in December 1902.^[7] He was commandant of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst from January 1907^[8] to 1911^[9] and then served in World War I, following which he was made a CVO in 1919.^[6]

Family

In 1888 he married Helen Margaret Parry; they had two daughters.^[6] He died aged 77 in January 1934 at Newbridge Hill, Bath.^[1]

He had three brothers all who served in the Army, one was Major-General Sir Thompson Capper KCMG, CB, DSO who was killed in World War I,^[10] and another was Major-General Sir John Edward Capper.^[11]