Basic Details
Surname
Ruck-Keene
Forenames
Ralph Edgar
Gender
Male
Information stated on memorial
Served or died
Died
Notes
His biography on the College website (see References) reads as follows: 'Ralph Edgar Ruck-Keene, Lieutenant, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Ralph Ruck-Keene came up to Jesus College in 1907 from Rossall School, Lancashire and private tuition. Born: East Grinstead, Sussex on 4 March 1888, Accidentally killed: 16 January 1916.
Little is known of his time here in College, though the Jesus College Society Annual Report, 1908 records him as playing for the Second Hockey XI, as a forward, in the 1907-08 season (p35). He only spent two years in Cambridge as he left in 1909 to “take up some active form of life in the open air” (Jesus College Society Annual Report, 1916, p28). The open air he found was on a rubber plantation in Kedah, Malaysia which is where he was when war broke out. He had by this time married Christina de la Paz Garcia, who was to give birth to their daughter, Thelma, on 9 January 1916. Just 7 days later, Lieutenant Ruck-Keene was killed in a bombing accident in Flanders.'
Primary Service
Our References
Service (Primary - Our reference)
Unit (Primary - Our reference)
Rank / Title (Primary - Our reference)
Death and Burial details
Country of burial
France
Town of burial
Richbourg-L'Avoue, St Vaast
Cemetery
Military Cemetery
Year of death
1916
Month of death
January
Day of death
16
Age at death
27
Manner of death reference
Killed in Action
Personal Details
Occupation
Not Stated on Memorial