Q. In MS Word how do I suppress the first page number at the start of each chapter

What you need to do is:

1.       First set each chapter as a section under Page layout and insert section breaks. 

2.      Go to the first page of the chapter (or section) you want to change.

3.      Click on the header for the first page, so it is active (as if you were editing it).

4.      The Header & Footer Tools tab will appear.

5.      Select Different First Page in the Header & Footer Tools.

 6.       Now you can delete the page number for your first pages.