BORN HULL 1893. SON OF FREDERICKE CARL RAETIGG AND EDITH RAETIGG. HIS FATHER WAS BORN IN WITTENBERG, GERMANY, CHANGED HIS NAME TO CHARLES AND BECAME A FISHERMAN, LIVING AT 7 MANCHESTER STREET, HULL. HIS MOTHER WAS BORN IN HULL. HE HAD TWO BROTHERS AND THREE SISTERS.
RALPH WENT TO SEA, ON 16TH MARCH 1909. HE IS LISTED AS A MERCHANT MARINE APPRENTICE. (1911 CENSUS). ISSUED WITH HIS 2ND MATE CERTIFICATE ON 13TH DECEMBER 1913.
MARRIED AT SCULCOATES, HULL, IN 1916. HUSBAND OF EVA MURIEL RAETIGG, OF 58, DE LA POLE AVENUE, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS).
LOST AT SEA, ON THE STEAM SHIP “ELVE”, 11/10/1917, AGED 23. COMMEMORATED ON THE TOWER HILL NAVAL MEMORIAL, LONDON. THE ELVE WAS A REQUISTIONED DUTCH STEAMER, BUILT IN 1916.
LISTED ON TRINITY HOUSE MEMORIAL, HULL.
HIS ELDER BROTHER MAX EDGAR RAETIGG, ALSO SERVED AT SEA DURING WW1. HIS YOUNGER BROTHER, JOHN RICHARD RAETIGG, WAS A DRIVER IN THE ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY
