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{{Short description|British First World War general}}
{{For|the English author and Orientalist|John Capper (editor)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Sir John Edward Capper
|birth_date=7 December 1861
|death_date= 24 May 1955 (aged 93)
|birth_place= [[Lucknow]], [[British Raj|British India]]
|death_place= [[Eastbourne]], [[East Sussex]], [[England]]
|image= Col Capper watching Cody's experiments.jpg
|caption= Colonel Capper watching [[Samuel Franklin Cody|Mr Cody's]] experiments with the British Army Aeroplane, February 1909.
|nickname="Stone Age"
|allegiance= {{flag|United Kingdom}}
|serviceyears= 1880−1946
|servicenumber=
|rank= [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-General]]
|branch={{army|United Kingdom}}
|commands=[[24th Division (United Kingdom)|24th Division]] [[Royal Tank Regiment|Royal Tank Corps]]
|unit= [[Royal Engineers]]
|battles= [[Tirah Campaign]] [[Second Boer War]] [[First World War]]
|awards= [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] [[Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]] [[Legion d'honneur]] (France)
|laterwork=
}}
[[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-General]] '''Sir John Edward Capper''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KCB|KCVO}} (7 December 1861 − 24 May 1955) was a senior officer of the [[British Army]] during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century who served on the [[North-West Frontier Province|North-West Frontier]] of [[British Raj|British India]], in [[South Africa]] and during the [[First World War]], where he was instrumental in the development of the [[tank]]. He was the older brother of Major-General [[Thompson Capper]], who was killed in action at the [[Battle of Loos]] in late 1915.

An experienced engineer, Capper was involved in numerous building projects during his years in India and pioneered the development of [[airships]] in Britain. He helped establish and command several military training establishments in Britain, was involved in large-scale military planning during 1918 and 1919 and was pivotal in establishing the tank as an important feature of the British Army. Although Capper was sometimes described as pompous and possessing poor communication skills, earning the nickname "Stone Age" for his attitude towards the ideas of junior officers in the Royal Tank Corps (later the [[Royal Tank Regiment]]), he nevertheless played a vital role in the development and deployment of armoured vehicles in the British Army.

==India, Burma and South Africa==
John Capper was born in [[Lucknow]], [[British Raj|India]] to civil servant William Copeland Capper and his wife Sarah in December 1861. Returning to England at an early age for education, Capper attended [[Wellington College, Berkshire|Wellington College]] and upon leaving in 1880 enrolled in the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]] from where he went on to study at the [[Royal School of Military Engineering|School of Military Engineering]] at Chatham, before subsequently being commissioned into the [[Royal Engineers]] as a lieutenant.<ref name="ODNB">[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/41054 Sir John Edward Capper], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Retrieved 11 August 2007 (subscription needed)</ref><ref name="LG1">{{London Gazette|issue=24870|page=4258 |date=1880-08-03 }}</ref><ref name="driver">Driver H.; ''The Birth of Military Aviation: Britain, 1903-1914'', Royal Historical Society 1997, Page 180.</ref> A capable engineering officer, Capper served in India and [[Burma]] for most of the first 17 years of his career, principally employed on military and public construction projects. He performed well in this position, being promoted to [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] in 1889.

In 1897, Capper was attached to the force dispatched to the [[Tirah Campaign]] on the North-West Frontier of British India. One of his tasks there was to supervise the construction of the first road for wheeled vehicles across the [[Khyber pass]].<ref name="driver" /> At the campaign's successful conclusion, he was promoted to [[Major (UK)|major]] and transferred to [[South Africa]] while his wife Edith Mary (''née'' Beausire) and their son John Beausire Copeland Capper returned to England. Arriving in South Africa at the outbreak of the [[Second Boer War]], Capper became deputy assistant director of railways, a vital job given the lengthy and dangerous supply routes along which the war was fought. In 1900, he received the [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] rank of [[Lieutenant Colonel (UK)|lieutenant colonel]] and commanded several locally raised units, eventually becoming the commandant at [[Johannesburg]]. He returned to England in June 1902,<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Army in South Africa - Troops returning home|date=10 June 1902 |page=14 |issue=36790| }}</ref> following the end of hostilities the previous month, and on 22 August 1902 was appointed a Companion of the [[Order of the Bath]] (CB) in the October 1902 South Africa Honours list.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref name=CB>{{London Gazette|issue=27490 |date=1902-10-31 |page=6897}}</ref>

==Aeronautics==
In 1903 he settled with his family at Bramdean House in [[Old Alresford|Alresford]], and was appointed Commander of the Balloon Sections, based at [[Aldershot]] under the command of Col [[James Templer (balloon aviator)|James Templer]]. In 1906, having briefly become the Balloon Companies, the organisation became the [[School of Ballooning]] with Capper as its Commandant. At about the same time the Balloon Factory was split off and moved to a new site nearby at Farnborough and, on Templer's retirement, Capper also became its Superintendent and was given the brevet rank of full [[Colonel (UK)|colonel]]. Templer was retained at the factory under Capper to complete the development of Britain's first military airship, the ''[[British Army Dirigible No 1|Nulli Secundus]]'' ("second to none") in a purpose-built airship shed.<ref name="walker">Walker (1971)</ref>

[[File:Aviation in Britain Before the First World War RAE-O620A.jpg|thumb|''Nulli Secundus'' in flight]]
Capper not only supervised the British Army's ballooning and airship activities, but took a wider interest in aeronautics. In anticipation of the new airship, he took up the civilian sport of ballooning, flying in competitions initially as assistant to the [[Charles Rolls|Hon. C.S. Rolls]] and later with his own balloon "Pegasus" and his wife as assistant.<ref name="walker" /> These included the man-lifting "war kites" developed by [[Samuel Franklin Cody]] and the early work on aeroplanes by both Cody and [[J. W. Dunne]]. He also conducted fact-finding visits to the US, where he and his wife befriended the [[Wright brothers]] and became involved in protracted but ultimately futile negotiations for the [[War Office]] to buy a Wright machine.<ref name="walker">Walker (1971)</ref>

Capper and Cody undertook the first successful flight of a British airship, the ''Nulli Secundus'', over [[London]] in 1907.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref name="REMHS">[http://www.remuseum.org.uk/rem_his_special.htm#null Royal Engineers Museum History Section - Aeronautics] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070109033423/http://www.remuseum.org.uk/rem_his_special.htm |date=9 January 2007 }}, ''Royal Engineers Museum and Library'', Retrieved 11 August 2007</ref>

[[File:Aviation in Britain Before the First World War RAE-O447.jpg|thumb|''Baby'' when flown by Capper in 1909]]
Capper went on to modify the airship as ''Nulli Secundus II'', parodied by ''Punch'' as "second to none the second", and a smaller experimental airship called ''Baby''. Neither was an immediate success, although ''Baby'' would later be modified and have a long and successful career.

Capper oversaw the first Army aeroplanes. He briefly flew Dunne's first glider, the [[Dunne D.1|D.1]], during secret trials at [[Blair Atholl]] in Scotland in 1907. The flight had lasted only a few seconds when the glider crashed into a wall, with Capper sustaining a cut to the head. The next year, Cody flew the first British-built aeroplane at Farnborough, which earned it the title [[British Army Aeroplane No.1]]. This was an ironic achievement for Capper's command, as he had pinned his personal hopes on Dunne, whose [[Dunne D.4|D.4]] achieved no more than a few hops.<ref name="walker">Walker (1971)</ref>

That Autumn the government conducted a formal inquiry into military aviation. Capper had to return early from Blair Atholl in order to present his evidence. He argued strongly for a promising future of all forms of aeronautics and especially the aeroplane. However his Army superiors on the committee were against aeronautics in any form. It was decided that only small-scale airship experiments should continue and that aeroplane work should be stopped. It formally ceased when Dunne and Cody's contracts ran out at the end of March 1909.<ref name="walker">Walker (1971)</ref>

Soon afterwards the Balloon Factory was removed from the command of the Army and a new civilian superintendent, [[Mervyn O'Gorman]], appointed. Capper remained in command of the Army Balloon School.

When Dunne left Farnborough, Capper was one of several friends who offered support for his efforts. In 1911, one of Dunne's new aeroplanes was exhibited at the Olympia Aero Show, with a placard stating it was "Built to the order of Col. J. E. Capper, R.E."<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1911/1911%20-%200278.html "The Dunne 'Auto-Safety' monoplane", ''Flight'' April 1 1911, Page 280]</ref>

In 1910 Capper was transferred to command of the [[Royal School of Military Engineering]] at [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]], marking the end of his aeronautical career.

==First World War==
[[File:Major-general Sir John Edward Capper, Kcb Art.IWMART1789.jpg|thumb|Major-General Sir John Capper]]
Capper remained at Chatham until September 1914 when the lack of experienced officers forced his transfer to [[France]] in the early months of the [[First World War]].

As a [[Brigadier (UK)|brigadier-general]], Capper was first made deputy inspector of the lines of communication before being given the post of Chief Engineer to the [[III Corps (United Kingdom)|Third Corps]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29177|page=5214|date=1 June 1915}}</ref> In July 1915 he was promoted to [[Major-General (UK)|major-general]] and made chief engineer of the [[British Third Army]]. In October, following the deaths of several senior officers at the [[Battle of Loos]], including Capper's younger brother [[Thompson Capper|Major-General Sir Thompson Capper]], he was promoted to overall command of the [[British 24th Division|24th Division]].<ref name="CWGCTC">{{CWGC|id=2947368|name=Capper, Sir Thompson|access-date=29 January 2018}}</ref> Capper remained in command of the division for the next 18 months, including periods of heavy fighting at the [[Battle of the Somme]], in which his son John was killed in action serving with the [[Royal Artillery]].<ref name="CWGCJBCC">{{CWGC|id=556359|name=Capper, John Beausire Copeland|access-date=29 January 2018}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Second Lieutenant John Beausire Copeland Capper is buried in Flatiron Copse Cemetery at [[Mametz, Somme|Mametz]]. The gravestone erected over his grave bears the inscription chosen by his next-of-kin: HE HATH TURNED THE SHADOW OF DEATH INTO THE MORNING.<ref name="CWGCJBCC"/>|group="n"}} The division also spent extensive periods of time in other sections of the line and gained extensive battle experience at the cost of high casualties. As a reward for his service in command of the division, he was presented with the Commander's Cross of the [[Légion d'honneur]] by the French government.<ref name="LG2">{{London Gazette|issue=30043|supp=y|page=4155 |date=1917-05-01 }}</ref>

In May 1917, he was recalled to England, initially to run the [[Machine-Gun Corps]] training centre and from 28 July hold the position of Director-General of the newly formed Tank Corps at the [[War Office]].<ref name="ODNB"/> Operational command of tanks at the frontlines was in the hands of [[Hugh Elles]], the first commander of the Heavy Branch. Although tanks had first been introduced on the Somme the year before, their design and manufacture were both inadequate and the tactics of their deployment almost non-existent. Capper's job at the Tank Corps was to shape the organisation of the unit into an efficient battlefield force, improve mechanical reliability and develop effective tactics. It was in this role that Capper was given the nickname ''Stone Age'', as his subordinates considered him to be unwilling to accept new innovations in tank tactics.<ref name="ODNB"/> In fact, Capper was an able tactician who worked with General [[J. F. C. Fuller]] to develop a plan for a large scale armoured assault on German lines in 1919 (known as [[Plan 1919]]): his subordinates' prejudices were based on Capper's rigid adherence to the military hierarchy and his consequent failure to communicate his ideas to those below his rank.<ref name="ODNB"/> For his services as Director General of the Tank Corps, Capper was made a [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]].<ref name="LG3">{{London Gazette|issue=30111|supp=y|page=5454 |date=1917-06-04 }}</ref>

==Retirement==
In July 1918, Capper left the War Office and commanded the [[64th Division (United Kingdom)|64th Division]] in England until May 1919, when he took over command of Number 1 Area in France and Flanders. In September 1919, Capper became [[Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey]] and took over command of the island's military installations. He held the post for five years and during that time was made Colonel-Commandant of the [[Royal Tank Corps]]. On 11 July 1921, he was made a [[Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]].<ref name=KCVO>{{London Gazette|issue=32394 |date=1921-07-19 |page=5724}}</ref> Retiring in 1925, Capper remained associated with the Tank Corps and also became a governor of Wellington College, associations he retained until 1946.<ref name="ODNB"/>

During the [[Second World War]], Capper joined the [[Hampshire]] [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]] and remained on duty with the unit until 1943. Post-War he retired fully to Bramdean House and remained there until shortly before his death. He was widowed in 1953 and died at Esperance Nursing Home in [[Eastbourne]] in May 1955, leaving a daughter.<ref name="ODNB"/> In 1971, his collected papers, and those of his brother Thompson, who had been an instructor at the [[Staff College, Camberley]], were donated to the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at [[King's College London]] where they are still available to researchers.<ref name="LHCMA">[http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=358&inst_id=21 Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives], ''King's College London'', Retrieved 11 August 2007</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}
<references group="n" />

==References==
* {{Cite web
| title = Capper, Sir John Edward
| work = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
| url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/41054}}
* {{Cite web
| title = Capper, Maj Gen Sir John Edward (1861-1955)
| work = Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London
| url = http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=358&inst_id=21}}
* {{Cite web
|title = Royal Engineers Museum History Section - Aeronautics
|work = Royal Engineers Museum and Library
|url = http://www.remuseum.org.uk/rem_his_special.htm#null
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070109033423/http://www.remuseum.org.uk/rem_his_special.htm#null
|archive-date = 9 January 2007}}
*Walker, P.; ''Early Aviation at Farnborough'', two volumes, Macdonald (Vol. I 1971, Vol. 2 1974).

==External links==
{{Commons category|John Capper}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-mil}}
{{S-bef|before=[[James Templer (balloon aviator)|James Templer]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[School of Ballooning|Superintendent of the Balloon Factory]]|years=1906−1909}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Mervyn O'Gorman]]}}
|-
{{S-new|reason=Post created by separating the School from the Factory}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[School of Ballooning|Commander of the Balloon School]]|years=1909−1910}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Alexander Bannerman, 11th Baronet|Sir Alexander Bannerman]]}}
|-
{{s-new}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[24th Division (United Kingdom)|GOC 24th Division]]|years=1915−1917}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Louis Bols]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Henry Lukin]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[64th Division (United Kingdom)|GOC 64th Division]]|years=July 1918−1919}}
{{s-aft|after=Post disbanded}}
|-
{{S-gov}}
{{Succession box| before=[[Launcelot Kiggell|Sir Launcelot Kiggell]] | title=[[Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey]] | years= 1920 – 1925 | after=[[Charles Sackville-West, 4th Baron Sackville|Lord Sackville]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Good article}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capper, John}}
[[Category:1861 births]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War]]
[[Category:British Army generals of World War I]]
[[Category:British aviators]]
[[Category:British Home Guard officers]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Tirah campaign]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur]]
[[Category:People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire]]
[[Category:Royal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]
[[Category:British Army major generals]]

John Capper - Revision history

CallGirlMumbai at 12:11, 21 November 2025

Bot at 01:19, 2 August 2022