Page 116 - Who Was Sapper Brown

Further examination of this Report reveals that the soldiers of C Company, 1st Battalion Border Regiment
had left Cyprus at the end of their tour of duty on 3 December 1898, so they were not in Cyprus when

Private Capel died. They are clearly mentioned though on Private Capel’s headstone, as having contributed
to its erection ‘as a mark of respect and esteem’ for his having cared for their own sick (the Company lost

three men to illness in Cyprus in 1898 out of its complement of 120, and there would have been others
who survived).4

It would therefore seem likely that before they left Cyprus, they had known that Private Capel had become

ill, so they made arrangements for him to be suitably commemorated in due course. His loss would also
have been keenly felt by the other five members of the RAMC detachment,and with the whole garrison
5
strength numbering only 130 or so in 1898 Private Capel would probably have been known to everyone

in the camp.6 They have left a very poignant and lasting testimonial to his nursing and caring skills.

Private Capel’s grave is listed as A49 on the burials list at the entrance of the cemetery (indicating that he
was the 49th burial since 1882), and the site can be identified from the adjacent grave location map. It is

near the three CWGC graves (A63 – 65) of the First World War.

4 Ibid, (1898 – 1899); Monthly Returns of the British Army (February – December 1898) One soldier of the 1st Battalion,
Border Regiment is buried in Troodos, the other two in Polemidia.
5 The Monthly Returns of the British Army (1898 – 1899) record that the Royal Army Medical Corps detachment in Cyprus

consisted of one officer, one Sergeant and four rank and file.
6 Army Medical Department Annual Reports (1898 – 1899); Monthly Returns of the British Army (1898 – 1899).

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