George Devereux de Vere Capell, 7th Earl of Essex (24 October 1857 – 25 September 1916), was a British aristocrat. He succeeded to the title Earl of Essex in 1892.
Contents
Early life and background
Capell was born on 24 October 1857 in London, the son of Lt.-Col. Arthur de Vere Capell, Viscount Malden, and Emma Martha Meux. Upon the death of his grandfather, Arthur Capell, 6th Earl of Essex, on 11 September 1892, George Capell succeeded to the titles of 7th Viscount Malden, 7th Earl of Essex and 8th Baron Capell of Hadham.
Career
Lord Essex held a number of military posts, including the rank of officer in the Grenadier Guards, Aide-de-Camp to HM King Edward VII, and Colonel in the Territorial Forces. He was appointed a major in the Hertfordshire Yeomanry on 23 November 1893. Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in South Africa in late 1899, he volunteered for active service and was seconded to the Imperial Yeomanry, where, on 14 February 1900, he was appointed Second in Command of the 12th Battalion. He left Southampton in the SS Mexican in February 1900, and arrived in Cape Town the following month, serving in South Africa until 1901. On 19 December 1908, Capell was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Hertfordshire. He later held the offices of Vice-Lord-Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for Hertfordshire.