15th July 1917

Private Samuel Capewell, 2nd Battalion Scots Guards, was killed in action on 15th July 1917. He was born in Birmingham on 17th February 1877, and was the eighth of the nine children (seven sons, two daughters) of parents William (a painter) and Hannah (née Jones) who had married at All Saints, Hockley, Birmingham in 1859.

Samuel was baptised at St George’s Church, Birmingham on 14th June 1877 with two of his siblings (Ada, born 1873, and Edward John, born 1875). The family lived in Birmingham until at least 1891, when 14-year-old Samuel was listed as a saddle maker.

By 1900, Samuel had moved to Hockley Heath, where he married Emily Morgan on 25th June. The following year, Emily and her three-month-old daughter, Ada, were living with her parents, Levi and Ann Jones, whilst Samuel was a police constable, boarding in Bedworth. By 1911, Samuel and Emily were living in Nuneaton with their three children: Elsie Hannah (born 1900); Gertrude May (born 1902); and Samuel (born 1909).

We don’t know when Samuel first joined the Army but it seems that he didn’t see any overseas service before 1916. He was killed in action on 15th July 1917. A report of his death appeared in the Tamworth Herald 15th September 1917:

Mrs Capewell, Hockley Heath, has been informed that her husband, 14645, Pte. Samuel Capewell, Scots Grds., was killed in action on July 15. Pte Capewell was formerly police constable at Fazeley.

He is buried at Canada Farm Cemetery and is commemorated locally on the Hockley Heath War Memorial, and the roll of honour in St Thomas’s Church, Hockley Heath.

If you have any further information, please let us know.

Tracey
Heritage & Local Studies Librarian

tel.: 0121 704 6977
email: heritage@solihull.gov.uk