Charles Eldred CAPON (1877-1949)

Charles Eldred Capon (1877-1949) was the husband of May Capon who was the niece of Eugénie Sladden.

Charles was born at Kings Norton, Worcestershire, on 9^th June 1877, the youngest of three sons of Edward George Capon, a manufacturer of India Rubber, and his wife, Lily.  The family home when Charles was growing up was firstly at Fairview, Middleton Hall Road, Kings Norton, and then at Cedar House, New Road, Bromsgrove.  In the early 1890s, the family moved to Ashford, Middlesex.

In 1891, Charles was at a small boarding school on Wandsworth Common, Battersea.  At the time of the 1901 census, Charles was working as a stockbroker and staying at the Morlands Hotel, Frensham, Surrey.

On 7^th October 1908, Charles married Mabel Jacqueline Butler (known as May) at Weybridge; he was the younger brother of Edward Orford Capon who married May’s older sister, Winnie, the following year.  They had no children.  At the time of the 1911 census, they were boarding in Colwall, Herefordshire.  Charles’ occupation was then described as “private means”.  In a letter of 8^th June 1914, Polly Robinson refers to him obtaining a post on the staff of “Madame” and hoping it would prosper.

During the First World War, Charles served with the Royal Army Service Corps.  He was gazetted as a temporary Lieutenant on 31^st December 1914.  In early 1915 he was based at Southampton and May went to live with her mother at Addlestone during his absence.  He arrived in Salonika in late November 1915.  A letter written by his mother-in-law on 22^nd March 1916 reveals that he hated being at Salonika.

According to post-war phone directories, Charles and May seemed to live a rather peripatetic life after the war.  They lived at Penton, Addlestone, until at least 1922; by 1926 they were living at Treforfan, Woodville Road, Bexhill; by 1930 they were living at Mill House, Windmill Hill, Herstmonceux; in 1939 they were living in the Bexhill district.

May died in 1945 and Charles died intestate in the Hastings district in 1949.