Ralph's father was a Boer War Victoria Cross Recipient. He was gazetted with the award on 6 Jul 1900 for his actions as a Lieutenant in the 10th Hussars:
"On the 5th January, 1900, during a reconnaissance near Colesberg, Sir John Miibanke, when retiring under fire with a small patrol of the 10th Hussars, notwithstanding the fact that he had just been severely wounded in the thigh, rode back to the assistance of one of the men whose pony was exhausted, and who was under fire from some Boers who had dismounted. Sir John Miibanke took the man up on his own horse under a most galling fire and brought him safely back to camp."
In 1910 he retired from the British Army but at the outbreak of WWI, he rejoined with the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry as a Lieutenant-Colonel and was killed in combat at the age of 42 near Suvla, Turkey during the Gallipoli Campaign. His body was never recovered. He is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli, Panel 16.