Captain, the Reverend James Leitch Cappell

James’s father was Thomas Cappell. He was born in 1827 in Clonnand, County Meath, Ireland. At the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot, on 17th April 1845, in Dublin. His attestation describes Private T Cappell, No 2428 as 5’ 7’’ tall, with a fresh complexion, green eyes, brown hair and by trade a ’labourer’. During his fourteen years in what was then known as the East Indies, Thomas was promoted to Corporal (17th April 1850) and four years later, to Sergeant (17th January 1854). The 78th (Highlanders) Regiment was in India from 1842, which is where Thomas joined them soon after his initial training was completed. His first taste of action was in Persia where the Anglo- Persian war broke out on 1st November 1856.i In February the following year, the regiment took part in the Battle of Khushab inflicting heavy casualties on the Persian army. After much diplomacy, the war came to an end and the Persians withdrew their forces from the disputed city of Herat, permitting the British to return their troops to India, where they were soon needed for combat as Indian troops (sepoys) in the service of the British East India Company rebelled in Meerut on 10th May 1857 in an uprising that is now known as the Indian Mutiny.

Under the leadership of Sir Henry Havelock the 78th Highlanders helped suppress this Indian Rebellion. Its first action was the recapture of Cawnpore in July 1857 and then the relief of Lucknow. Three times the regiment advanced, but twice Sir Henry Havelock held back rather than risk fighting with troops wasted by battle and disease. Reinforcements arrived at last under Sir James Outram, and he was able to capture Lucknow on 25 September 1857. However, a second rebel force arrived and besieged the town again. This time Havelock and his troops were caught inside the blockade.ii Figure 1: Sir Henry Havelock

Sir Henry Havelock died of dysentery a few days after the siege was lifted on 24 November 1857, He lived long enough to receive news that he was to be created a Baronet for the first three battles of the campaign; but he never knew that he had been promoted to Major-General shortly afterwards.

Figure 2: The Relief of Lucknow by General Havelock, 25 September 1857. Engraving, 1858

It was during the siege of Lucknow that Thomas was injured in the thigh on 25th September 1857. The following year, on 17th August, he was promoted to Colour Sergeant. Historically, a Colour Sergeant protected the regiment’s ensign. For this reason, promotion to the rank of Colour Sergeant was considered a prestigious attainment, granted to those sergeants who had displayed courage on the field of battle. Thomas was allowed to ‘reckon one year additional service for entering Lucknow under Sir Henry Havelock’.iii He was also awarded the Indian Mutiny Medal 1857/1858 with two clasps.

Figure 3: Indian Mutiny Badge with two clasps

Having completed fourteen years abroad Thomas returned home in 1859 and on 16th December 1859, he married Mary Haig, at Ardersier, Inverness-shire.iv The 1861 census names Thomas in a list of soldiers guarding Edinburgh Castle. The following year, on 21st October 1862, he was transferred to the 13th Perthshire Rifle Volunteers as a drill instructor where he served out his time before he was discharged from the Service in Dublin, on 30th May 1865 having completed twenty-one years with the Regiment. During his twenty-one years of service, Thomas received five Good Conduct Badges (they were chevrons worn point up on the lower sleeve) awarded to soldiers after a given amount of time for each badge. The Individual soldier had to be clear of a ‘regimental entry’ (i.e. had not committed any military crimes like being AWOL or drunk). Each chevron entitled its wearer to an extra penny for each day’s service in their pay.v

The 1871 census records Thomas and his wife Mary living at Pittenzie Street, in Crieff, Perthshire. Since their marriage, twelve years earlier Mary had given birth to seven children: Robert (b 1861), Thomas Henry (b 1862), David Haig (b 1864), Stewart McPherson and Sarah Elizabeth (b 1866), John Ferguson (b1868) and Mary Haig (b 1870).vi It also notes that Thomas continued his work as a Sergeant drill instructor with the Perthshire Rifle Volunteers after leaving the 78th (Highlanders) Regiment.

By 1881, the Cappell family were still resident in Crieff but had moved to 32 High Street and Thomas was still engaged as a Sergeant Instructor with the Perthshire Volunteers. Three further children: Maggie Weir, George and James Leitch, were born in 1872, 1874 and the 31st October 1876 respectively.vii In 1891, only the youngest child, James, aged fourteen, was at home living with his parents in Burrell Street, Crieff. Thomas by this time had retired as an instructor and was a school Board Officer.

Figure 4: Morrison's Academy in Crieff

James studied at Morrison's Academy in Crieff before taking up a place at Glasgow University. He resided with his eldest brother Robert, a chemist, at 530 Great Western Road, throughout his time at the university. James studied Arts between 1894 and 1898 for his MA, but, in addition, took classes in Senior Latin, Middle Greek, and Mathematics in his first year, Logic and Literature in his third year and in his final year, classes in History and Moral Philosophy. On the 12th April 1898, James graduated and received a 'Highly Distinguished' prize in History.viii

After graduation, James entered the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church in Edinburgh. He was ordained in 1900.ix For a time, he was curate at Old St Paul’s Episcopal Church, Edinburgh and assistant to Rev A E Lawrie, Rector of the Church. In 1901, James was lodging with his sister Sarah at 15 Forrest Road, Old Town, Edinburgh. He was in post At Old St Paul’s Church until 1903.x

James was then appointed as curate to Berkswich with Walton, Staffordshire under the Rev F G Inge.xi James served the community there for six and a half years and he was ‘exceedingly popular’ with them.xii Under his careful training, the church choir ‘made rapid progress’ and he ‘raised the musical part of the Figure 5: Old St Paul’s Episcopal Church, church services to a higher level’. He Jeffrey Street, Edinburgh performed his parochial duties with much ability and was an asset in the social life of the community he served.xiii

James was ‘fond of sport’. He played football (with the Stafford Rugby Club), cricket, hockey and ‘liked a day’s shooting’. In the village of Walton he also organised a ‘glee club’ which had a successful run of four years.xiv A ‘glee club’ was a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs or glees by trios or quartets.

In February 1908, James became engaged to Beatrice Ada, eldest daughter of Mr Charles Chetwynd, JP, of Brocton Hall, Stafford, but at sometime over the next year or so the engagement was broken off.xv In 1910, James accepted the position of senior curate at St Mary the Virgin (now Blackburn Cathedral). Before he left, presentations were made to James at Walton School on Tuesday evening 6th May 1910. There was ‘much regret that he was leaving the parish’ but it was ‘understood that he had to advance in his profession’. James was given a roll top desk, a revolving chair and a purse of gold from the parishioners and a Bible from the teachers and pupils of Berkswitch School. The local cricket club at Walton presented James with a pair of silver candlesticks to mark his time there as treasurer.xvi

Figure 6: St Mary the Virgin, Blackburn (now Blackburn Cathedral)

James’s next posting was as a senior curate of Blackburn Parish Church. On 28th September 1910, he was appointed an ‘honorary member’ of the Loyal Economy Lodge of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows on its centenary.xvii During his time at Blackburn, one of James’s chief duties was the charge of Bible classes The women’s class was one of the largest in England and the men’s, the second largest. While resident in Blackburn, James lived at 198 Montague Street, with Jane Sweeting, the house keeper and her husband Charles.xviii

In March 1911 James was given a new appointment at St Brides in Manchester.xix

On Saturday, 1st June 1912 James became engaged to Edith Muriel, youngest daughter of Adam Dugdale. Her father was a cotton spinner and manufacturer, of Griffin lodge, Blackburn and Gilmonby Hall, Bowes.xx James’s tenure at St Bride’s was brief as, by November 1912, he was appointed the curate at St Mary’s Church in Moseley, Birmingham under Rev Canon Hopton.

When the engagement to Edith was called off and whether James’s move to Birmingham played a part in this is not known.

Two years later, on 15th April 1914, James married Alice Eleanor Pickop, the eldest daughter of the Rev Cannon Pickop BA of Winston Hall, East Park Road, Blackburn. The ceremony took place at St Mary’s Church, Blackburn, officiated by the Lord Bishop of Manchester (the Right Rev Dr Knox), Rev Canon Hopton MA, vicar of Moseley and Rev F Graham, the vicar of Rokeby. Alice’s sisters Belle and Christina were bridesmaids and the Rev H B Fulford Eales, curate of St Mary’s, Moseley was best man. James and Alice motored to Paris via London for their honeymoon.xxi

Figure 7: Newspaper report of Thomas’s marriage

On 4th August 1914, four months after their marriage, Britain declared war on Germany,.

On 26th November 1915, James enlisted in the Army as a Chaplain (4th Class).xxii He was based at the 1st Southern Cross Military Hospital at Dudley Road, Birmingham. On 16th March 1916, James was selected for duty with the British Expeditionary Force, and left for France shortly afterwards, leaving Alice and their thirteen month old son, Alistair James (born 15th February xxiii xxiv Figure 8 1915 ), at 40 Forest Road, Moseley. Captain, the Rev J L Capppell

As part of the Army Chaplain's Department, James attended the 1st/9th Battalion, Royal Scots.xxv The 1/9th Royal Scots were part of the 154th Brigade, 51st Highland Division from March 1916.

Chaplains as well as living among the men were expected to help support the individual emotional and spiritual needs of the soldiers on a daily basis. Chaplains led services, although most of these were in makeshift locations. They also had to ‘muck in’ like other soldiers, and this included helping cook food and digging drainage trenches.xxvi

The 1/9 Royal Scots were in action in the Battle of the Somme, including the attacks on High Wood and the Battle of the Ancre, capturing Beaumont Hammel, and taking more than 2000 prisoners.

Figure 9: Troops of the 1/9th (Highlanders) Battalion, Royal Scots marching in wet weather. Amiens-Albert road, Somme, September 1916

In 1917, the 1/9 Royal Scots took part in the Arras Offensive, the Battle of Pilkem Ridge, the Battle of Menin Road Ridge and the Cambrai Operations.xxvii

During the course of the Battle of Menin Road Ridge between 20th and 25th September, James was wounded by a bullet in the left shoulder while assisting the doctor on the field for which he received a ‘mentioned in despatches’ in the London Gazette on 1st February 1918. xxviii Following his injury, James was in England on leave and spent Christmas in 1917 at home with his family. He would have been looking forward to coming home in March 1918 after being appointed by the Bishop of Birmingham to the living of ‘Hill with All Saints’, near Sutton Coldfield. It was not to be. Sometime in January, back in action in the front line, James contracted dysentery and died in hospital on 23rd January 1918 from pneumonia, aged forty-one.xxix

James was buried in Sainte-Marie Cemetery, Le Havre.

Figure 10

(Left) Obituary for Rev J L Cappell (Above top) Sainte-Marie Cemetery (Above) WW1 memorial to James at St Mary’s Church, Moseley

Figure 11 (Top left) WW1 memorial at Berkswich (Top right) Berkswich memorial plaques, after restoration. Rev J L Cappell’s name in on the top of the left plaque (Left) WW1 memorial board at St Mary’s Church, Moseley (Below) St Stevens Churchyard, Tockholes, Lancashire

Figure 12: Memorial to the Royal Army Chaplains Department on the east wall of the Royal Garrison Church of All Saints in Aldershot, Hampshire

James is listed on the memorial to the Royal Army Chaplains Department on the east wall of the Royal Garrison Church of All Saints in Aldershot, Hampshire and also on the Roll of Honour at Blackburn, Glasgow University and Birmingham. James’s parents-in-law, James and Sara Pickop commemorated James on the family gravestone at St Stevens Churchyard, Tockholes, Lancashire.

Figure 13: James’s Victory and British War medals showing his name ‘Rev J L Cappell’

At the time of James death, Alice was expecting their second child. She returned home with her son, Alistair, to live at her parent’s home at Vine House, Revidge Road, Blackburn. On 25th August 1918, she gave birth to a daughter, Honor Margaret Pickop Cappell.xxx

Alice remarried in early 1924 at Settle, Yorkshire. Her second husband was George Walling, a Bank Manager, with whom she had a daughter, Eleanor Margaret Pickop Walling on 18th April 1926 in Kendal, Westmorland.xxxi Alice died on 19th April 1950 at ‘The Spinney’, Barrow-on-Windermere, Westmorland. Probate was granted to her son Alistair James Cappell, a solicitor’s clerk.xxxii

Alistair was articled to the Town Clerk in Burnley. In WW2 he was commissioned into the RNVR in 1942. He died in Ealing, Greater London in 2006, aged ninety-one.

Figure 14: Newspaper cutting from the Burnley Express Honor registered for a nurses training course on 26th November 1943 at the Harrogate and District General Hospital.xxxiii She married Herbert Fox in 1949 in Newton, Lancashire. The couple had four children. Honor died in 1983 in Colchester, Essex, at the age of sixty-five.

Written and researched by Edwina Rees

Moseley Society History Group

Permission to copy subject to acknowledgement The Moseley Society History Group carries out its own research and publishes the results on its website and in booklets, posters and written reports. It also responds to individual enquiries as far as it is able. The History Group grants permission to quote from any of its published research material and any responses to individual enquiries for non-commercial and educational purposes, but only on condition that the History Group is acknowledged as the source of the information used, together with the author where specified, and on the understanding that the History Group cannot guarantee or accept liability for the accuracy of its material. Use for commercial purposes is not permitted unless terms have previously been agreed with the History Group. Endnotes

i British Army Service Record for Sergeant Thomas Cappell ii Sir Henry Havelock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Havelock iii British Army Service Record for Sergeant Thomas Cappell iv Scottish Marriages 1561-1910 v Victorian Wars Forum http://www.victorianwars.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4548 vi Scottish Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950. There is no entry for Stewart McPherson Cappell. He is only named on the census a871 to 1891 vii Scottish Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950. There is no entry for James Leitch Cappell University of Glasgow Story http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/ww1-biography/?id=2221 viii University of Glasgow Story http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/ww1-biography/?id=2221

ix Cappell Family Tree, Ancestry x Scotland Post Office Directory, 1903 Staffordshire Advertiser, 14th May 1910 xi Collections for a History of Staffordshire, 1904 xii Staffordshire Advertiser, 14th May 1910 xiii See xii xiv The Staffordshire Advertiser, 2nd february 1918 xv Staffordshire Advertiser, 22nd February 1908 xvi See xii xvii Lancashire Evening Post, 29th September 1910 xviii 1911 census xix Church Guardian published in the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 31st March 1911 xx The Staffordshire Advertiser, 1st June 1912 xxi Evening Despatch, 16th April 1914 xxii London Gazette, 11th December 1915, Issue 29399, p 2409 xxiii England & Walws Deaths, 2006 xxiv Birmingham Daily Post, 20th February 1915 xxv National Archives Officers after 1913, Rev J L Cappell, Ref WO 339/135420 xxvi Chaplain’s letter from the trenches https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/2016/01/chaplains-letter-from-the-trenches/ xxvii 1/9Royal Scots: Wartime Memories Project http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/allied/battalion.php?pid=831 xxviii Staffordshire Advertiser, 29th September 1917 xxix The Staffordshire Advertiser, 2nd february 1918 Dysentery is common in unhygienic conditions as must have been usual in the trenches. Most young people would recover spontaneously but some may go on to a more chronic illness which might result in extreme dehydration. If not corrected by adequate fluid replacement, general debility could result with impaired resistance to

other diseases. Under these circumstances a minor chest infection could easily turn. Into pneumonia, particularly as dry airways impair expectoration with resultant sputum retention etc. With thanks to Roy Cockel, retired gastroenterologist consultant and member of the Moseley Society History group. xxx Birmingham Daily Post, 28th August 1918 UK, Nursing Registers, 1888-1968 xxxi 1939 Register England & Wales Births for 1926 xxxii National Probate Calendar, 1951 xxxiii UK, Nursing Registers, 1888-1968

Illustrations

Figure 1 Sir Henry Havelock http://lucknowobserver.com/sir-henry-havelock/

Figure 2 Relief of Lucknow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Lucknow#/media/File:HavelockRelievesL ucknow.jpg Figure 3 Pinrest https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/303711568592601761/ Figure 4 Perthshire Advertiser, 14th July 2016 Figure 5 Old St Paul’s Church, Edinburgh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Saint_Paul%27s,_Edinburgh Figure 6 Blackburn Cathedral https://www.ents24.com/blackburn-events/blackburn-cathedral Figure 7 Evening Despatch, 16th April 1914 Figure 8 Commonwealth War Graves Commission Figure 9 Imperial War Museum image Q4263 Figure 10 Staffordshire Advertiser, 2nd february 1918

Figure 11 Berkswich WW1 memorial http://www.calibremetalwork.co.uk/projects/berkswich-war-memorial Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56318422

Figure 12 Photograph by Peter Lucas of Memorial to the Royal Army Chaplains, Royal Garrison Church of All Saints in Aldershot, Hampshire http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/topic/80192-war-memorials-glos- staffs-cheshire-derby-other-counties/?page=14 Lieutenant-Colonel Audax http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/topic/53895-their-name-liveth-for- evermore/ Figure 13 Cultman Collectables WW1 Medal Pair (British War & Victory) M.I.D. to a Chaplain 4th Class - Attd 1st / 9th Royal Scots - Died. This pair is to Reverend James Leitch Cappell, Army Chaplains' Dept, Attd 1/9th Royal Scots. Died of Disease - 23/01/1918... £350.00. https://www.cultmancollectables.com/archive-alt?page=10 Figure 14 Burnley Express, 3rd January 1942