Remembering Ronald William Poulton Palmer
Remembering the life of former England international Ronald William Poulton Palmer who died on this day in 1915 in WWI.
Born in Headington, Oxford, he was one of five children of the eminent pro-Darwinian Professor, Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton.
After early education at the Dragon School in Oxford, Ronald, usually known as “Ronnie” went on to Rugby and then, as a Williams Exhibitioner, to Balliol College Oxford where he took an honours degree in Engineering Science.
England honours
His sporting achievements at school included three cups for athletics and being a member of the 1st XI at cricket, but he especially excelled in the 1st XV at the spiritual home of the game of rugby, being a member for three seasons (captain in 1907), and playing alongside Rupert Brooke, later well known as a war poet.
Ronnie Poulton played 17 times for England, including against Wales in the first international at Twickenham in 1910, and was captain of the 1914 Grand Slam winning team.
Along the way he appeared for his club Harlequins in the first ever match at Twickenham Stadium in October 1909, scored a record five tries in his first varsity match the same year, and found time to play for the Liverpool club in 1913/14 in a unique 1st XV containing three international captains - F.H. Turner (Scotland), R.A. Lloyd (Ireland) and himself for England.
At Balliol he was in the Officer Training Corps, and was later a volunteer with the Royal Berkshire Regiment, volunteering as part of the 1st/4th territorial Battalion as soon as war came.
Despite inherited wealth and fame, he was a modest man who gave his spare time, often with his brother Edward, to social work and improving the life of working men and their children.
Final words
By the spring of 1915 Ronnie was at the front in Flanders, where he managed to play his final game of rugby, captaining South Midland division (Forty-Eighth) v Fourth Division.
While supervising engineering works in a trench just north of Ploegsteert Wood in Belgium he was shot by a sniper on 5 May. His last words were reputed to be: “I shall never play at Twickenham again.”
Lieutenant Ronald William Poulton Palmer is buried in the Royal Berks Cemetery, Hyde Park Corner, in Belgium (Grave reference B.11).
The world's best player
Twickenham ground staff kept soil from the stadium pitch to take to Ronnie’s grave and, with the help of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, this was scattered on the grave by the RFU’s First World War Commemoration ambassador and former England captain, Lewis Moody.
“Ronnie Poulton was generally regarded as the world’s best rugby player of his day,” said Moody. “Like so many young sportsmen of his generation he made the ultimate sacrifice for his country and on the anniversary of his death at the front we wanted to remember him, the other 26 England players, and all in our sport who died for our sake.”
Before the 2018 fixture between the Army and Navy, teams lined up on Twickenham’s hallowed turf, and Lewis buried soil from Ronnie’s grave beside the pitch. It is now permanently marked and players run out over it for every match at the Home of England Rugby. The RFU was proud to welcome him home.
