Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Gerald Ritson (1880 – October 25, 1966) was a member of the Inniskilling Dragoons and a champion

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

player with a ten-goal handicap.

Biography

He was born in 1880 in England to Utrick Alexander Ritson, of Calf Hall,

Muggleswick Muggleswick is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in County Durham, England. It is situated a few miles to the west of Consett. the population was 130 at the 2001 Census reducing to 113 at the 2011 Census. The village has a num ...

Park, Co. Durham, and Annie Ridley. In 1911 he won the Roehampton Trophy with fellow players Jean de Madre and Leslie St. Clair Cheape. That same year he won the King's Coronation Cup with Leslie St. Clair Cheape, Major Shah Mirza Beg of the

Hyderabad Lancers The 15th (Imperial Service) Cavalry Brigade was a brigade-sized formation that served alongside British Empire forces in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, during World War I. Originally called the Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade it was formed ...

, and Vivian Noverre Lockett. He captained the British polo team in the 1913

International Polo Cup The International Polo Cup, also called the Newport Cup and the Westchester Cup, is a trophy in polo that was created in 1876 and was played for by teams from the United States and United Kingdom. The match has varied in length over the years ...

at the Meadowbrook Polo Club and his teammates were Leslie St. Clair Cheape and Vivian Noverre Lockett. On June 1, 1926, he married Lady Kitty Edith Blanche Ogilvy, daughter of

David Ogilvy, 11th Earl of Airlie Lieutenant colonel David Stanley William Ogilvy, 11th and 6th Earl of Airlie (20 January 1856 – 11 June 1900) was a Scottish peer. He was born at Florence, Italy. He was the third child and elder son of David Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie, and ...

and

Mabell Ogilvy, Countess of Airlie Mabell Frances Elizabeth Ogilvy, Countess of Airlie, (née Gore; 10 March 1866 – 7 April 1956) was a British courtier and author. Early life She was born the eldest daughter of Arthur Gore, Viscount Sudley, and his wife, Edith, daughter ...

. He died on October 25, 1966, in South Africa where he was working for Wiggins Teape.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritson, Ralph Gerald English polo players 1880s births 1966 deaths International Polo Cup Roehampton Trophy Place of birth missing 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons officers People from County Durham (district)