Piers Edgcumbe, 5th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe

Piers Alexander Hamilton Edgcumbe, 5th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe DL (1865-1944), was a soldier who served in the South African War with distinction.

Educated at Oxford University and a keen horseman, he was part of the varsity polo team playing against Cambridge in 1885-1887.

He was appointed a Captain in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry on 23 March 1891. After the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899, he went to serve in South Africa. He left Cape Town for the United Kingdom in early May 1902, shortly before the end of the war.