Ingram Capper

Ingram Cooper attended the Pangbourne Nautical College and trained as an officer cadet between 1921-24. He then went to work with the British India Steam Ship Company, but left in 1928 at the age of 21 to become a broker on the London Stock Exchange with the jobbing firm of Bisgood, Bishop & Co. Cooper eventually became a council member and trustee, and, between 1961-66, he was the chairman of the Stock Exchange.

In advance of the outbreak of World War II, Capper studied at the Little Ship Club in London and obtained his yacht masters certificate. Days after war broke out he enlisted as a temporary lieutenant in the Royal Naval Voluntary Reserve (RNVR) and was appointed commanding officer of the patrol ship HMS Kilchrenan.

The Kilchrenan was an American boat that Britain used during the War under a lease-lend agreement between Britain and America. Capper had to go to Chicago to collect the boat prior to her going into service in British waters. When he got there, Capper found out that no payment had been received for the boat so he wrote out a personal cheque, which the British Government guaranteed. Effectively he was in command of a warship that he personally owned!

Capper enjoyed hunting, fishing, and shooting and was a crack shot with both rifle and shotgun. He competed in the Running Target, Single and Double Shot event at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and finished 12th. One place above him was fellow-Briton 60-year-old Cyril Mackworth-Praed, whose only other Olympic appearance was at Paris 28 years earlier.

Being a master mariner, Capper was a member of the Little Ship Club and the Royal Naval Sailing Association. He was also a member of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, and Member of the Worshipful Company of Gunsmiths.