Born 1 November 1869 Tettenhall Wood, Wolverhampton and educated at Felsted School. Capell failed entry into the British Army on medical grounds and later joined the Cape Mounted Rifles. He was commissioned in Bethune's Horse and fought in the Boer War, during which he was captured and interned at Barberton. Capell saw service in the South African Constabulary, served in the Kenyan District Commissioners' Office and later became Commandant of Colonial Forces and Chief of Police in the West Indies, as a Major. On his return to Africa in 1913 Capell became an Assistant Commissioner in the BSA Police. He commanded the BSA Police column which took Schuckmannsburg and was later commanding officer of the Rhodesia Regiment deployed in East Africa. Capell was promoted to temporary Lt. Colonel in May 1915. He was appointed Commandant General in Southern Rhodesia in 1923 (when he was made Commissioner of the BSA Police). He retired from the force in 1926. Algernon Capell died in Salisbury on 24 February 1952. Awarded DSO 1901 ; Croix de Guerre 1917; CBE 1924.