Edward Capel-Cure

Sir Edward Capel-Cure (d.1924)

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1924 Obituary

BY the sudden death of Sir Edward Capel-Cure we have lost an old and valued friend. Sir Edward acted for several years preceding the war as the Italian correspondent of this paper and that he did his work admirably will be admitted by all who recall a series of articles on "Italian Industries" which began in April, 1906, and a spacial Supplement on Ansaldo's works, which was published with our issue of May 8th 1914. He was not an engineer, and used himself to admit, jocularly, that his only practical knowledge of engineering was gained by painful experience with a steam launch which he ran on lake Maggiore. He had, however, a deep sympathy with engineering, and being an experienced writer was able to acquire and transmit information which he gleaned from others. One of the ardent desires of his life was the establishment of a closer understanding between the British and Italian peoples, and he was tireless in his efforts to secure it. On the occasion of the intended visit of the Iron and Steel Institute to Italy in 1911, he devoted a great deal of his time to the arrangement of the programme and prepared a series of articles on the " Iron and Steel Industries of Italy," which ran in our columns at the time. His disappointment when the visit was abandoned, for reasons which he considered insufficient, was rendered more acute by the hopes that he had based on the outcome of the visit and by the intimate personal knowledge he had of the steps which had been taken by the ironmasters of Italy to show their visitors unexampled hospitality.

Sir Edward was the eldest son of the Rev. Edward Capel-Cure, Canon of Windsor and Chaplain-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria. On leaving Winchester he entered New College, Oxford, and took honours in History. His subsequent career was an interesting and varied one. Making his home in Italy , he gave much attention to literature and to art, and practised for a time as a journalist and art critic in the Italian papers. His devotion to the best literature of his own and his adopted country was profound. Early in the war he was appointed Commercial Attache at the Embassy at Rome, and in 1918 he was appointed Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy for Italy. He threw himself into this work with the nervous energy which characterised him, and for his services he was rewarded in 1919 with the honour of knighthood.

A man of charming personality, a large knowledge of men, and an infectious passion for work, he leaves behind him in Italy a host of friends who regarded him as one of themselves - was he not a Commendatore? -and in this country many who, without personal knowledge, pay respect to his ideals and honour him for the work he achieved.

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