Career
Rayner was commissioned into the Duke of Wellington"s Regiment, in which he served as a signals officer He was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. During the First World War he served on the Western Front and India.
He transferred to the Royal Corps of Signals in 1926.
Between July 1928 and January 1930 he was Aide-de-Camp to the Marquess of Willingdon, Governor General of Canada. He was promoted Captain in 1919, Major in 1932 and retired in 1933.
He rejoined the Army during the Second World War and reached the rank of Brigadier. He was made Deputy Lieutenant of Devon in 1952, knighted in 1956, and became High Sheriff of Devon in 1958.
He lived at Ashcombe Tower, Devon, situated on a spur of Little Haldon above the stream known as the Dawlish Water.
The tower was built in 1833 as an observatory. Brian O"Rorke was chosen as the architect for the project on the grounds that he had never designed such a house before and would therefore be open to Lady Rayner"s ideas. At Ashcombe Tower, the Arts and Crafts style meets Art Deco.
As one of the first British officers to enter Adolf Hitler"s Berlin bunker, the Führerbunker in World World War II, Sir Ralph took a red telephone as a souvenir and used it at Ashcombe Tower.