South African service

The following year, 1899, Capper and his regiment were again engaged in Africa, being transported to South Africa to serve in the Second Boer War. There Capper performed his duties with distinction for the next three years, being heavily engaged at the defeat of Spion Kop and participating in the relief of Ladysmith in early 1900.^[6] He 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.^[2] During the war, he received a brevet appointment as lieutenant colonel on 29 November 1900, and was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 5 December 1901.^[9] Following the war's conclusion in June 1902, Capper was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on his return home.^[10] He was also 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 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 deputy-assistant adjutant-general on the divisional staff of the 1st Army corps at Aldershot,^[15] but as an experienced staff officer, he was shortly thereafter given a post as a professor at the Staff College, Camberley from December 1902 to 1904.^[16][17] He was promoted to brevet colonel on 11 December 1904.^[18] He was then transferred to the Staff College, Quetta in India as commandant (and substantive colonel).^[19] It has been suggested that this move was initiated by jealous colleagues at the college due to his ability as a teacher and tactician.^[2] He 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.^[2] He 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".^[2] He also amassed a prodigious collection of military literature during his research and teaching.^[20]

In 1906 he was promoted to temporary Brigadier–General^[21][22] and in 1908 he married Winifride Mary, with whom he would have one son.^[2] In 1910 his work at the staff college was recognised with the award of the Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the King's Birthday Honours.^[23] In 1911, after a brief period of half-pay in his permanent rank of Colonel, Capper was transferred from India to Ireland, where he commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade until 1913.^[24] He returned to Ireland briefly a year later in the aftermath of the Curragh Incident, to support his friend Hubert Gough.^[2] During early 1914, Capper was briefly the Inspector of Infantry^[25] but in the emergency of the summer of 1914 he was promoted to substantive Major-General^[26] and posted to the regular 7th Division, which was sent to the Western Front.^[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]