Ralph Line was born in Hampstead, London on 24th June 1887 to Ruth (née House) and Richard Line, a butcher. The eldest of seven children, he was baptized in the Parish Church of Harmondsworth on 7th August 1887.

His father died in 1907 and sometime after this Ralph moved to Thame where he lived in Lower High Street and was employed as a warehouseman for the warehouse and distribution company, Pursers.

At the outbreak of the First World War he enlisted with local territorial yeomanry, the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars (Regt No 1947). On 20th September 1914, he embarked with C (Henley) Squadron for France, disembarking at Dunkirk two days later.

In October, in northern France, they were the first territorial unit to see action in the war, but thereafter spent much of the war with the 4th Cavalry Brigade in frustration, as no opportunities for a mounted cavalry breakthrough occurred. Much of their time was spent in trenches, either as working parties or as mobile fighting infantry.

At the end of April 1915 Ralph was one of several members of the Regiment, including his future brother-in-law William Humphris, who were wounded by a bursting shell. He was invalided back to England and after a period for recovery he rejoined the Regiment in France.

On 7th September 1917, whilst on leave, he married Sarah Jeannie Humphris of 24 Upper High Street at St Mary’s Church, Thame. William Humphris survived the war but Ralph, age 30, was killed on 23rd March 1918 by machine gun fire during the Battle of St Quentin, part of the German spring offensive known as Operation Michael.

His officer said “he was such a gallant fellow, and one of the smartest NCOs in the regiment and will be much missed.” He was initially buried by the Germans in a local battlefield cemetery but was reinterred in 1919. His brother Richard, also remembered on the Thame War Memorial, was killed in Salonika in 1917 serving with the Wiltshire Regiment.

285209 Corporal Ralph Line, Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars, is buried in the British Extension to Chauny Communal Cemetery, Aisne. He is remembered in Thame on the War Memorial and on All Saints’ Church Memorial Board.

Note re name: Army service and CWGC information misspells his surname as Lines