Bringing Twickenham to Rugby Legends Ronnie Palmer

A piece of hallowed ground from the home of England Rugby will forever mark the grave of former England Captain Ronald Poulton Palmer, while a piece of the country he died defending has come home to Twickenham in a unprecedented fitting tribute.

Ahead of today’s annual Army v Navy match at Twickenham, which falls on the 103rd anniversary of the death of Lieutenant Poulton Palmer, soil taken from around his headstone was buried beside the pitch, over which players will run out for every match.

The soil was buried by former England player and the Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) Great War Ambassador Lewis Moody, after the UK Armed Forces v Oxbridge U23 match. He was joined by the CWGC’s Richard Nichol, Ronald’s descendants James and Max Garnett, representatives of the RFU Great War Commemoration Committee, and Captain James Marshall from the Band of the Household Cavalry. Corporal of Horse Stephen Martin, from the Household Cavalry, played the Last Post.

Last week, Lewis visited Ronald’s grave in CWGC Hyde Park Corner [Royal Berks] Cemetery, Belgium, where he placed soil from the Twickenham pitch. He was joined by a group from the RFU, including descendants of England players lost during the First World War and RFU President John Spencer, who also visited the CWGC Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial to lay wreaths after the traditional Last Post ceremony.

Richard Nichol, the CWGC’s Director of Operations in Western Europe, said: “The Commission was delighted to help with this unique request. When Ronnie was killed, his last thoughts were of his beloved Twickenham. A few days ago we were able to take a piece of this hallowed earth to his final resting place in our cemetery at Hyde Park Corner in Belgium.

“Today, some earth from his grave, from the country he gave his life to defend, finds a permanent home here at Twickenham – a fitting tribute to a fine player and a reminder to us all, to always remember him and all those who gave their lives.”

Regarded as the best player of his day, Ronald 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. In the spring of 1915, he was at the front in Flanders, where he played 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. His last words are said to have been: “I shall never play at Twickenham again.”

Lewis Moody said: “Like so many young sportsmen of his day, Ronnie made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. On the anniversary of his death at the front it is very important to remember him, the other 26 England players, and all in our sport who died for our sake. 

“It is an honour to welcome Ronnie home.”

Ronald’s death was met with grief by the men of his regiment and by the country at large.

The inscription on Ronald’s headstone chosen by one of his friends reads: “His was the joy that made people smile when they met him”.

Sgt. J. Watson quoted in the Reading Standard for May 15 said: “He was the finest and best loved officer in the whole Brigade, and I pity the Germans who run across his Company when there is an attack.”

Writer Alfred Ollivant wrote this poem after Ronald’s death:

R.W.P.P. (Killed in the Trenches)

Ronald is dead; and we shall watch no more

His swerving swallow-flight adown the field

Amid eluded enemies, who yield

Room for his easy passage, to the roar

Of multitudes enraptured who acclaim

Their country’s captain slipping toward his goal,

Instant of foot, deliberate of soul –

‘All’s well with England; Poulton’s on his game’.

Aye, all is well; our orchard smiling fair;

Our Oxford not a wilderness that weeps;

Our boys tumultuously merry where

Amongst old elms his comrade spirit keeps

Vigil of love. All’s well. And over there,

Amid his peers, a happy warrior sleeps.