27 Facts About Thompson Capper

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.

Thompson Capper died the next day in a casualty clearing station from wounds to both lungs; his grave is in the nearby Lillers Communal Cemetery.

Thompson Capper was an active and vigorous soldier who had been wounded just six months before his death in an accidental grenade detonation.

Thompson Capper was born in October 1863 to William and Sarah Capper.

William Thompson Capper was a civil servant with the Bengal Civil Service and Sarah was the daughter of industrialist William Copeland.

Thompson Capper and his elder brother John were born in Lucknow in British India but at a young age were sent to England for their education.

Thompson Capper attended Haileybury and Imperial Service College and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst before being commissioned into the East Lancashire Regiment of the British Army as a lieutenant on 9 September 1882.

Thompson Capper was employed on home service for the next ten years and whilst serving as regimental adjutant was promoted to captain on 22 April 1891, attending the Staff College at Camberley from 1896 to 1897 before being transferred with his unit to India.

Thompson Capper received a brevet promotion to major on 16 November 1898.

Thompson Capper remained in South Africa engaged in guerilla operations against the Boer forces until the armistice of May 1902, commanding a flying column in the Cape Colony.

Thompson Capper was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with six clasps and the King's South Africa Medal with two clasps in recognition of his service during the war, and was twice mentioned in dispatches.

Thompson Capper returned to the United Kingdom in the SS Dunottar Castle, which arrived at Southampton in July 1902.

Thompson Capper was promoted to brevet colonel on 11 December 1904.

Thompson Capper was then transferred to the Staff College, Quetta in India as the college's commandant.

Thompson Capper retained this position until 1911, teaching the lessons of the Russo-Japanese War and emphasising the importance of "attacking dash" as the best means of overcoming entrenched positions.

Thompson Capper came into contact with numerous important figures of the First World War through this work, including 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".

Thompson Capper amassed a prodigious collection of military literature during his research and teaching.

In February 1911, after a brief period of half-pay, and reverting to his permanent rank of colonel, Thompson Capper was transferred from India to Ireland, where he was promoted to temporary brigadier general and succeeded Major General Charles Monro in command of the 13th Infantry Brigade, part of the 5th Division.

Thompson Capper relinquished command of the brigade in February 1914 and briefly returned to Ireland, in the aftermath of the Curragh incident, to support his friend Hubert Gough.

In February 1914, Thompson Capper was briefly made the inspector of infantry but in the emergency of the summer of 1914 he was promoted to substantive major general and posted to the 7th Division as its first general officer commanding, which was sent to the Western Front soon after the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914.

Thompson Capper was temporarily replaced by Major General Hubert Gough and returned to England to convalesce, but was back with the 7th Division on 19 July 1915.

The assault failed and Thompson Capper was discovered by his retreating units and taken to Number 6 Casualty Clearing Station at Lillers to the rear of British lines personally by Captain O'Reilly, a medical officer.

Major-General Sir Thompson Capper died the following day, on 27 September 1915 in the casualty clearing station, at the age of 52.

Thompson Capper's division had lost over 5,200 men killed or wounded in just three days of fighting.

Thompson 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.

Thompson Capper is 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.

Thompson Capper's 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.