He was the eldest child of William Horner Caparn, an organist and teacher of music, and his wife Sophia Warwick.

[1] Caparne attended Magnus Grammar School where he had art lessons from the painter, politician and art-master William Cubley of Newark-on-Trent, who had been a pupil of Sir William Beechey, a former pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds.

A daughter, Louisa Winifred, was born in 1880, and in the same year he was appointed art master at Oundle.

[4] In 1895 Caparne moved to Guernsey following the death of his wife, where he was to paint for the next 40 years, living in a small cottage on a cliff top in the parish of St Martin between Bon Port and Saints Bay, using an old tram as his workshop.

[5] The British Iris Society recognised his significant contributions with the award of the Foster Memorial Plaque in 1936.