Christopher Caple

{{Short description|English mercer and politician}}

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{{Use British English|date=November 2016}}

Christopher Caple or Capell (c. 1559 – 1626) was an English mercer and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1625 and 1626.

Caple was a younger son of Edward Capell of Sollers Hope, Herefordshire and became a mercer at Gloucester.{{cite web|title=CAPELL, Christopher (c.1559-1626), of Gloucester, Glos.|publisher=History of Parliament|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/capell-christopher-1559-1626|access-date=8 February 2023}} He was made sheriff of Gloucester in 1594 and became an alderman in 1598.{{cite web|title=VCH Gloucestershire Volume 4, Gloucester: Aldermen, 1483-1835|publisher=British History Online|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol4/pp374-381}} He was Mayor for 1598–99, 1619–20 and 1621–22. In 1625, he was elected Member of Parliament for Gloucester. He was re-elected MP for Gloucester in 1626, but died in office in May of that year.[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924030494953#page/n203/mode/2up W R Williams Parliamentary History of the County of Gloucester]

He had a reputation for non-conformity. On his death he left a communion cup to his parish church on his death.

His first wife was Grace, the daughter of Richard Hand, with whom he had 3 sons, including Richard Caple, and a daughter Anne, who married John Hanbury.{{cite book|title=The visitation of the county of Gloucester, taken in the year 1623|date=1885|page=36|url=https://archive.org/details/visitationofcoun00inchit/page/35/mode/1up}} His second wife was Ellen, the daughter of Richard Hill of Dymock, Gloucestershire and widow of William Lane of Gloucester.