Poulton-Palmer R W Lt 4th Royal Berkshire Regiment

LIEUTENANT R. W. POULTON PALMER

4TH BATTALION PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES’S (ROYAL BERKSHIRE REGIMENT), T.F.

RONALD WILLIAM POULTON PALMER was the younger son of Edward Bagnall Poulton, F.R.S., Hope Professor of Zoology, and Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, and of Emily his wife. He was nephew and heir of the Rt. Hon. G. W. Palmer, of Marlston House, near Newbury, sometime M.P. for Reading, whose name he assumed in 1913, but did not live to succeed to the estate.

He came to the School in 1903, and left in 1908, was in the XV in 1905-6-7, being joint Captain in 1907, in the XI in 1907-8, and held the Athletic Cup in 1906-7-8. He won an Exhibition in Science at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1907.

At Oxford he obtained a Second Class in the Engineering School, was in the University XV in 1909-10-11, and Captain in 1911, and played Hockey for the University in each of these years. Between the seasons of 1909 and 1914 he played seventeen times for England in International Rugby Football Matches, and was Captain of the English team in the four Matches of the Season before the War.

From his School days he was an active member of the Rugby School Mission Clubs, at Notting Hill. At Oxford he worked in the Balliol Boys’ Club, and carried on and extended another similar Club in the parish of St. John’s, Reading.

On leaving Oxford in 1912, he entered the business of Messrs. Huntley and Palmers, and at the same time joined the 4th Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment.

He left for the Front on March 30th, 1915, and five weeks later, when on duty as Works Manager in the trenches at Ploegsteert Wood in Belgium, near Armentières, was shot, probably by a sniper, in the early hours of May 5th, 1915. Age 25.

The following are quotations from letters from his Colonel, and other Officers in his Battalion :-

“Naturally Ronald was the most beloved and popular Officer with all ranks, and one whom we could least spare. I shall miss him sorely, as he was a most trustworthy and capable Officer and would have gone high in soldiering, had he been spared.”

“Men and all were devoted to him, and there is not one of us who would not have cheerfully exchanged our lives for his. He never shirked a job whatever the risk was, and he fell, as he would have liked to do, in the execution of his duty.”

“When I went round his old Company, as they ‘stood to,’ at dawn, almost every man was crying. He will always be an inspiration to those of us who remain.”

And Bishop Furse, of Pretoria, who buried him, wrote:-

“It was tremendously touching to see the men’s faces as I spoke. It was only last week that I had been seeing your boy at ‘Plug Street’ Wood, and had had a little service for them there. Their Chaplain then told me what a tremendous help and stand-by your boy was to him in his work. ‘He’s just a glorious chap to have by me,’ were his words.”

Many were the public references to him, after his death, dwelling on his wonderful athletic powers, his skill and fleetness of foot on the Football field, the joy with which he played his games, great or small. But his Schoolfellows and his friends at Oxford, Reading, and elsewhere will think of him rather as their ideal of what a Public School man should be in the greater game of life-clean-lived, brave, unselfish, unassuming, never spoilt by popularity or success.

A notice of him will be found in the “Meteor” of May 28th, 1915 (No. 585), and an article in “The Treasury” of July, 1915, concludes in the following terms :–

“I do not fear to say that his beautiful presence disclosed a still more beautiful soul. He was humble in the true sense that he hated advertisement, notoriety, limelight, and constantly esteemed others as better than himself. He was a sportsman in the only sense worth mentioning, one who played the game for the sake of the game, to whom any trick or mean advantage would have been not only distasteful but simply unthinkable.

“He was chaste with that sort of cleanness of thought and deed which makes evil seem altogether shoddy and threadbare. Of course, I am conscious that all this is high praise. Yet, they will tell you the same at Rugby, the same at Balliol. May he be an inspiration to young Oxford and young England for many a year to come. God send us more of his type, we need never fear for England then; nor shall we ever be ashamed of the religion which can mould a man like this.”

Source : Memorials Of Rugbeians Who Fell In The Great War Vol 1

PALMER, RONALD WILLIAM POULΤΟΝ, Β.Α. Oxon, Lieut., 4th Battn. Berkshire Regt. (TF.), уг. s. of Edward Bagnall Poulton, D.Sc., F.R.S., Hope Professor of Zoology, Oxford University, and Fellow of Jesus College, by his wife, Emily, eldest dau. of the late George Palmer (of Huntley & Palmer, Ltd.), some time M.P. for Reading, and nephew of the late Right Hon. George William Palmer, also at one time M.P. for Reading, and of the late Sir Walter Palmer, Bart., M.P. for Salisbury; b. Oxford, 12 Sept. 1889; educ. Oxford Pre-paratory School, Rugby (School House), and Balliol College, Oxford, where he matriculated with an exhibition in 1908; took 2nd Class Honours in the Final Honour School of Natural Science (Engineering), and graduated B.A. 1911. On leaving Oxford he entered Huntley & Palmer’s factory in Jan. 1912, to qualify himself for a Directorship, and after 18 months there, went to Manchester and continued his engineering studies in Mather & Platt’s, attending courses at the Municipal School of Technology. On the death of the Right Hon. G. W. Palmer, in Oct. 1913, he became the heir and, had he lived, would have succeeded his uncle in the Marlston Estates, and by the terms of the will he took the name of Palmer.

At Oxford he had served with the O.T.C. from 4 Dec. 1908 to 29 Dec. 1911, and on going to Reading was given a commission as 2nd Lieut., in the Berkshire Territorials, 30 April, 1912; and on the outbreak of war volunteered with his Battn. for foreign service, and was promoted Lieut. He went to the Front at the end of March, and was killed by a stray bullet, or by a sniper, at 12.20 a.m., 5 [not 4] May, 1915, while superintending work on the trenches in front of Ploegsteert Wood, Belgium. He was buried in the wood, close to “Hyde Park Corner”; unm.

Col. O. P. Serocold wrote: “He was killed instantaneously, while on duty in the trenches, about 12.20 a.m. this morning, and as it was quite dark at the time, and before the moon rose, we think it must have been an unaimed chance bullet which struck him. Naturally Ronald was the most beloved and popular officer with all ranks, and one of those whom we could least spare. I shall miss him sorely, as he was a most trustworthy and capable officer, and would have gone high in soldiering, had he been spared”; and Capt. Thorne: “Ronald was engaged on work of trench repair, in company with Sergt. Brant, and was hit by an enemy sniper at 12.20 a m. Death, mercifully, must have been instantaneous. This I am sure of, as I reached him a moment after he was shot: he never spoke or moved again, and the Doctor, who shortly after arrived, is of the same opinion. Sergt. Brant did everything that could be done, but it was obviously all in vain. I cannot express what we feel about it, men and all were devoted to him, and there is not one of us who would not have cheerfully exchanged our lives for his. He never shirked a job, whatever the risk was, and he fell, as he would have liked to do, in the execution of his duty. The regt. has lost one it could ill afford.”

Lieut. O. B. Challenor also wrote: “He was our company works manager, i.e., he looked after the trench, and found out what work on the parapet or elsewhere was necessary for the safety of the men. He was shot at 12.20 a.m. today, 5 May. It was a foggy night, and he was on the roof of a dug-out, looking at work that had been done, when a stray shot, which I think was a ricochet off our wire in front of the trench. hit him. It entered his right side, just below the arm-pit; death was instantaneous” He was a noted Rugby International, and captained the English Team which won all the International matches in the season before the war. The “Times” said: “By the death of Lieut. Poulton Palmer Rugby football has lost one of its most brilliant exponents. As a three-quarter back-he could play either in the centre or on the wing his name will go down to posterity as probably the greatest player of all time. He was decidedly of the unorthodox type, and, although he had many imitators, was unequalled in his distinctive style and opportunism. The strongest points of his game were his resolute running and wonderful swerve. At the beginning of his career he was rather weak in his tackling, but this weakness was remedied by experience. As a captain he was a born leader; he was never flurried, and was always seen at his best when the score was against his side. Like all great players, he had his off days, but he was just the man to win games by his individual flashes of brilliance, and no English side could have been considered at full strength without him. Between the seasons of 1909 and 1914 he gained 17 International caps-five against Scotland, four against Ireland, four against Wales, three against France, and one against South Africa. He failed to get his Blue at Oxford as a Freshman in 1908, when the three-quarter line consisted of four old Blues and International players- H. H. Vassall, F. N. Tarr, C. M. Gilray, and H. Martin-but in the following year, when Oxford beat Cambridge by four goals and five tries to one try, he scored five tries the other four being gained by Martin. In 1910 and 1911 he was also on the winning side, and was captain in the latter year. He also did splendid service for the Harlequins, and it was in a large degree due to him that the three-quarter line reached its high standard of excellence.

In addition to his skill as a Rugby football player he was a fine exponent at hockey, and he played against Cambridge in 1909, 1910, and 1911. Early in his school days at Rugby he began to feel that love for work in boys’ clubs which was to become the chief among his many interests. It was further developed at Oxford in the Balliol Boys’ Club, in the Rugby School Mission and by contact with kindred spirits of whom the brightest have, with him, given their lives for their country. When in 1912 he went to Reading, with all his strenuous work at the Factory, he found time to help in the management of a Boys’ Club in the parish of St. John’s, and in Manchester he gave time and thought to the same absorbing interest. His friends have felt that to write of him, as many of the papers did, as a football player and nothing else, was to give an entirely false impression of the man, and to miss what to him was the paramount duty as well as the keenest pleasure of life.

Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 1

Ronald William Poulton-Palmer, born in September 1889, was the second son of E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., Hope Profesor of Zoology at Oxford. In 1897 he went to the Oxford Preparatory School, and when he left in 1903 he was said to be the best all-round athlete they had ever had. At Rugby he was in the School House, and again he had a wonderful sthletic record, in his last year helping his House to win practically every cup. He specialised in Science, and in December 1907 was elected to a Science Exhibition at Balliol – “quite the happiest moment I have ever had.”  When he came up in October 1908 his charming freshnes, vitality and modesty made him almost too popular in College life, there were so many calls upon him that by the end of his second Michaelmas Term he concluded that he must drop many things, such as cricket, which took two much time, for the sake of his work in the new School of Engineering. He had deliberately chosen this career though pressed by some friends to become a schoolmatter, by others to enter the Army. In 1910 it was arranged that, on leaving Oxford, he should join his uncle, the late Rt. Hon. G. W. Palmer, in the Reading factory. In 1911 he took a good second class in the Schools, his time had been broken up by his many other activities and interests, but both his Proffessor und the College felt that they would not have wished to alter anything.

He played Hockey for Oxford in 1909 and 1910, when Cambridge was defeated, and again in 1911. His career at Rugby Football it is almost imposible even to summarise. His play was so brilliant that critics at first thought it too individualistic, yet what he really loved in the game was combination. He ran in a deceptive upright postion with the ball held in front of him at arms length, and he had a peculiar and famous swerve. In his first Varsity match in 1909 Oxford won by 33 points to 3. in 1911 by 19 to 0 and it became the rule “get the ball Ronnie.”  Seventeen times he was awarded his place is an International team, and in 1914 he was Captain of the English team which defeated Wales, Ireland, Scotland and France. As a threequarter he was unique, and as a Captain a born leader. He was the idol of the crowd, as much by the character they divined in him as even by his play. But in spite of his success, football to him was never more than a game.

At School the Rugby Mission had been one of his great interests and so in Balliol he turned naturally to the Boys’ Club, and was Secretary from October 1909 to June 1910. His closest friends were connected with it (Keith Rae, Stephen Reiss, and others still living, N. V. Gorton, H. R. Bowlby, W. T. Collier, G. M. Hamilton); he said it had helped him as nothing else had done. It helped him in taking up a similar club at Reading, and was an outlet for that desire to serve the working classes which an observer said was almost a passion with him. When his uncle’s will suddenly made him a rich man he was overwhelmed with the responsibility. It did not alter his own simple habits, but gave him the means to be generous to others, and increased his purpose to know the other side of life; this he was learning in Reading and in Mather & Platts engineering works at Manchester, where he worked from September 1913 to July 1914.

Ronald had been a keen member of the O.T.C. at Oxford, and took a Commission in the 4th Battalion of the Berkshire Regiment when he went to Reading in 1912. After mobilisation in 1914 he volunteered at once for foreign service, having long felt that war with Germany was inevitable, and “that nothing counts until the German military party is beaten.” He went to France on March 30, 1915. In a talk with W. Temple (now Bishop of Manchester) he had said that he felt sure he would be killed,” it is all right, of course, but there is so much I want to do.” He had no doubt about a future life, because without it this life would be absurd.” He found time before leaving to visit his Boys’ Club at Reading, and the Rugby Club at Notting Hill. His Battalion went into the line near Ploegsteert on April 7, and he was put in charge of trench repairs in his Company sector. On the night of May 4-5 he was out with a working party and was hit by a rifle bullet and died instantaneously.

The Rugby Meteor said of him: To his friends (and they were many) he did, in quite a peculiar way, sum up a generation and realise an ideal. Few have known so fully the joy of life ; fewer still have had such a genius for communicating it to others. Even the crowds who flocked to cheer him on the football field were conscious of a personal charm, and loved the man in the athlete. In those amazing runs that he used to make, runs that took him in and out amongst his opponents and seemed to leave them standing, there was no suggestion of the stress or fierceness of contest; it was all a sheer joy, and the spectators laughed while they roared applause. There was something of the same astonishing ease about the way in which he did the things and made the sacrifices which for most of us involve a world of self-conscious effort. And yet, not astonishing; for the secret of his charm and of his influence lay in the ready and ever widening sympathy which impelled him, without even a touch of affectation or condescension, to share his own happiness and strength with all who needed a friend. And so nothing could change or spoil him; on the day of his death he was exactly what he had been in the Rugby days-brave, unselfish, and unassuming, happier kicking about a football with the Notting Hill boys than winning an International match.”

Source : Balliol College War Memorial Books

Source : The Sphere 7th Aug 1915