On Saturday, 17 April 1909, Ralph de Wion Faber, aged 21, the only surviving child of Mr and Mrs David Faber, of Ampfield, Hampshire, took a fatal fall at the Vale of White Horse Steeplechase Meeting, Oaksey, Cirencester, when unshipped from his mount, Riby - owned by George Hawker of Chipping Norton - during the Open Hunters' Handicap.
It seemed, momentarily, an innocuous unseating; Riby, leading the field, over-jumped and fell, and, unhurt, Ralph was quickly on his feet. Unfortunately, a cluster of horses close behind mowed him down, one catching him a fearful blow on the back of his head. His skull fractured, he fell unconscious. Dr Heaton, from Malmesbury, and two other medical men, rushed to his aid, taking him on a stretcher to the nearby Oaksey Park Farm House (the residence of Mr Martin) where, the following morning, Ralph rallied. His parents, who had raced to Oaksey the previous evening, and his best friend, Mr Maurice Kingscote, were all by his bedside when, that evening, he suffered a fatal relapse and died at 8.20. Ralph, who was in the Cavalry, had received his commission in the 16th Lancers just three days before his untimely death. Educated at Eton & Oxford, Ralph was also Master of the Draghounds at Oxford University during the same season that his uncle, Captain Walter Faber. M.P. was Master of the Tedworth Foxhounds. Earlier in April, Ralph was captain of the winning team riding against Cambridge.
Described as a born horseman, Ralph had won many steeplechases at his College and elsewhere and, at Wincanton on Easter Monday, had won on the same horse, Riby. Ralph had not ridden at Oaksey before where, on the same afternoon, another rider, Captain Collins, was thrown and also sustained a fracture of the skull.
Ralph, a man of great geniality and charm, was of exceedingly striking appearance: so popular was he that, on his 21st birthday, the tradesman of Romsey combined and procured for him a cigar box of solid silver. Its inscription read: 'Presented to Ralph Faber on his 21st birthday, November 22, 1908.'
He was buried in Ampfield Churchyard on Wednesday afternoon, 21 April. Upon his oak coffin were his racing colours and a floral wreath from his parents.
His elder brother, Mr Evelyn Beckett Faber, died on June 19, 1902, aged 19.