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- Born in Argentina of a British family he acquired his love of horses in Argentina. In boarding school in England he loved art classes but disliked most other subjects. His mother took him on visits to noted British sculptor, Captain Adrian Jones who allowed him to work with armatures to keep him busy while the grown-ups continued with the visit. He came to Canada in 1927 as a university student and graduated from McGill University with a degree in agricultural economics. He worked in the insurance field in New Zealand for many years but returned to Canada to join the army during the 2nd World War. He became a member of the Third Canadian Division, which landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. The retreating Nazis left behind their horses and Sketch acquired a chestnut-coloured mare named Lady Item. Sketch was the commander of the Item Troop of the 10th Battery of the Royal Canadian Artillery. Sketch joined the salute in Caen when General de Gaulle raised the tricolour during the playing of the Marseillaise. Many years later the event was commemorated by Sketch's presentation of his sculpted small bronze of Lady Item (w/himself as the rider) to the Canadian wing of France's museum in Normandy. A self-taught sculptor he was able to work at his three passions of history, horses and sculpture. His specialty was horses and the people that rode them in making their mark in history. He did commissions for historical societies, official organizations in several cities including the RCMP in Ottawa and the Niagara Parks commission. His completed work includes: a miniature bronze of Sir James Douglas, who travelled on his horse when reconnoitring the route for a wagon road through the Fraser Canyon, later founded the first Hudson's Bay Company on Vancouver Island in 1843 and eventually became governor of BC; Edgar Dewdney, a surveyor and trailblazer, depicted on his horse with pack horse in tow. He established the trail of 445 miles from Hope to Wild Horse Creek, later was elected to the Canadian House of Commons and in 1888 became minister of the interior of for the Macdonald government; Louis Riel (on his horse) wanted to obtain redress for the half-breeds of the North West Territories but unfortunately this led to a second rebellion in the North West; a sculpture of Sir Isaac Brock's horse Alfred given to the Niagara Parks Commission by Mr. and Mrs. Stewart G. Bennett of Georgetown; Laura Secord and others. Paul Moss, in the Victoria Times-Colonist noted, "Sketch seems very conscious of . . . a legacy inherited from Rodin, Cellini and a long line of distinguished forebears. Those who have seen his work, with its dynamic form and finely executed detail, would probably agree that in his hands the tradition is kept honorably alive." Ralph and his wife Marian Ogden Sketch lived half the year in California and half on North Pender Island. Tragically both of the Sketches died in a fire and explosion in their North Pender Island home in the autumn of 1993. Ralph Sketch was 83 and his wife Marion was 60. They were survived by three children.
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1910 - 1993 (83 years)
