[2][3] Richard acquired his second Christian name from his mother, Mary Anne Mathews (1822–1905), whose family could claim descent from Owain Glyndŵr, the last Welsh native Prince of Wales.

[1][10] At the Royal Military Academy, Ruck gained a reputation as an athlete, playing both cricket and rugby football and being a keen gymnast.

[4] At this time, the Royal Engineers were among the top football teams in England, having reached the final of the first FA Cup tournament in 1872 and again two years later, finishing on both occasions as runners-up.

[1] The Engineers reached the FA Cup Final for the third time in four years in 1875 but only after a hard semi-final against Oxford University, with a 1–1 draw followed by a 1–0 victory in the replay.

Shortly after the equaliser, Ruck collided with Cuthbert Ottaway who was forced to leave the field with a serious ankle injury; in his absence, the Old Boys were regarded as fortunate to have held on for a 1–1 draw.

[10] During his military posting to Malta from 1899 to 1902, he laid out a golf course and designed the clubhouse, before winning the inaugural tournament, despite this being open to officers from both the Army and the Royal Navy.

[18]b In the article, Ruck describes the Engineers' use of passing rather than running with the ball: Individually, we were sometimes up against better players than ourselves, but collectively we felt equal to any club.

[24] Between May and December 1885, Ruck worked in the War Office, before being appointed Assistant Inspector of Submarine Mining Defences in January 1886,[23] with the temporary rank of major in the Army.

[48][49] Ruck developed a keen interest in aeronautics and in 1905, he forecast that "in the early future the question of military supremacy would be decided by fighting in the air".

[10][58] By her marriage to Thomas Pedley, Mary had ten children,[59] including William (1858–1920), who played first-class cricket for Sussex and was later an engineer in California, and Eve (1854–1951} who married Richard's younger brother, Oliver, in 1884.

In January 1905, Lisette Ducros was the subject of an attempted blackmail by Frederick Paxton, who threatened to expose her relationship with "a Mr.... in the War Office", with whom she had a child, and accused her of "keeping a disorderly house" at her lodgings in Clarendon Street, Pimlico.

At his trial at the Central Criminal Court on 8 February, Paxton was found guilty of demanding money with menaces, and sentenced to 18 months hard labour.

[61] Ruck's wife, Mary, died on 13 October 1914,[62] but earlier that year, Lisette had married student-teacher Frank Hoare (1894–1980),[63] who would later become a film and TV producer.