{{Short description|British Army officer (1856–1934)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = Colonel | name = William Capper | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CVO}} | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1856|02|06|df=yes}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1934|01|15|1856|02|06|df=yes}} | burial_label = | burial_place = | birth_place = Bath, Somerset, England | death_place = Bath, Somerset, England | burial_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> | nickname = | allegiance = {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom | branch = 23px British Army | service_years = 1876–1913 | rank = Colonel | service_number = | unit = | commands = Royal Military College, Sandhurst | battles = World War I | battles_label = | awards = Commander of the Royal Victorian Order | relations = | other_work = }} Colonel '''William Baume Capper''' CVO (6 February 1856 &ndash; 15 January 1934) was a British Army officer who became Commandant of the Royal Military College Sandhurst.

==Military career== Capper was born on 6 February 1856 at Newbridge Hill, Bath, Somerset,<ref name=sc>{{cite book|last=Percival|first=Tony|title=Shropshire Cricketers 1844-1998|year=1999|publisher=A.C.S. Publications, Nottingham|pages=9, 42|isbn=1-902171-17-9}}Published by Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians.</ref> his father William Copeland Capper having been in the Bengal Civil Service. Educated at Haileybury,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.haileybury.com/medals/egypt.htm |title=Egypt |access-date=17 July 2011 |archive-date=20 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320011947/http://www.haileybury.com/medals/egypt.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Capper was commissioned into the 85th Regiment of Foot in 1876<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24292|page=589|date=11 February 1876}}</ref> and subsequently played cricket for Shropshire<ref>[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/144/144481/144481.html Cricket Archive]</ref> in 1882-83 and for Staffordshire.<ref name=sc/>

He became adjutant of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry in 1886.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25615|page=3856|date=10 August 1886}}</ref> 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.<ref name=fox>[http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/arthur-charles-fox-davies/armorial-families--a-directory-of-gentlemen-of-coat-armour-volume-1-dxo/page-82-armorial-families--a-directory-of-gentlemen-of-coat-armour-volume-1-dxo.shtml ''Armorial families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour'' by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (page 82)]</ref>

He attended the Staff College, Camberley, from 1893 to 1894.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fK4aAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA118|title=Hart's Annual Army List, Militia List, and Imperial Yeomanry List|year=1899|page=118|publisher=J. Murray}}</ref>

He was director of military education in India in December 1902.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27553|page=3152|date=19 May 1903}}</ref> He was commandant of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst from January 1907<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27991|page=743|date=1 February 1907}}</ref> to 1911<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf |title=Army Commands |access-date=17 July 2011 |archive-date=5 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705211343/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and then served in World War I, following which he was made a CVO in 1919.<ref name=fox/>

==Family== In 1888 he married Helen Margaret Parry; they had two daughters.<ref name=fox/> He died aged 77 in January 1934 at Newbridge Hill, Bath.<ref name=sc/>

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,<ref>[http://www.kentfallen.com/PDF%20REPORTS/GODDEN%20GREEN.pdf Godden Green War Memorial]</ref> and another was Major-General Sir John Edward Capper.<ref>[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/41054 Sir John Edward Capper], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', retrieved 11 August 2007 (subscription needed)</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Gerald Kitson}} {{s-ttl|title=Commandant of the Royal Military College Sandhurst|years=1907−1911}} {{s-aft|after=Lionel Stopford}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capper, William}} Category:1856 births Category:1934 deaths Category:British Army colonels Category:Military personnel from Bath, Somerset Category:Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Category:People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Category:58th Regiment of Foot officers Category:Commandants of Sandhurst Category:King's Shropshire Light Infantry officers Category:British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War Category:British Army personnel of the Mahdist War Category:British Army personnel of the Second Anglo-Burmese War Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley