Geoffrey Lumsden

Geoffrey Lumsden was a British actor who often played pompous upper-class men and army officers on television. Born in London in 1914, he trained reluctantly as an engineer at a colliery, where he arranged workers' concerts and became drawn to acting, winning a RADA scholarship while still employed there. His repertory theater career was interrupted by World War II; he returned afterward and also wrote plays. On Broadway he played Sir Francis Getliffe in The Affair in 1962 and Major Hugh Beresford Maitland in Hostile Witness in 1966. He wrote and appeared in the West End farce Caught Napping in 1958. His best known role was Captain Square in Dad's Army, the pompous Eastgate Home Guard commander and rival to Captain Mainwaring. Other TV work included Edward & Mrs. Simpson, Jack the Ripper, It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Upstairs, Downstairs, plus two appearances in the BBC Television Shakespeare. He died in 1984.