Ralph Bardoe was born in Gravesend in Kent on 1 March 1894, the son of George Arthur Bardoe (a bricklayer) and Emmeline Agnes Bardoe (née Baker). At the time of the 1911 Census on 2 April 1911, the Bardoe family were living at 126, Milton Road, Swanscombe, Kent and Ralph (listed as an Apprentice Electrician in a Cement Works) was at home with his parents and his four sisters.

On 5 October 1915 Ralph Bardoe joined the Royal Navy at HMS PRESIDENT as an Air Mechanic II (Hostilities Only) and then served at the Royal Naval Air Station, Great Yarmouth, from 1 March 1916 to 25 November 1917, RNAS CRANWELL from 26 to 30 November 1917 and RNAS Great Yarmouth, again, from 1 December 1917 to 31 March 1918. On 1 April 1918, Petty Officer Air Mechanic Bardoe was transferred to the Royal Air Force when the RNAS and the Royal Flying Corps were merged into the newly established Service.

At the time of the 1921 Census Ralph Bardoe was living at 7, Rosebery Road, Gillingham in Kent with his wife Lilian Louisa Bardoe (née Chapman) whom he had met while serving in Great Yarmouth and married in Gillingham in 1920. In the Census he was listed as an Electrical Fitter in the Electrical Engineering Department, Chatham Dockyard. In the 1939 Register he was noted as a Chargeman Electrical fitter and there was a fifteen year old daughter – Lorna L Bardoe living at home with her parents and ‘seeking employment’.

By July 1940 Ralph Bardoe was an Established Electrical Inspector in Chatham Dockyard when he joined HMS UMPIRE for the passage to Scotland. HMS UMPIRE joined an East Coast Convoy for passage from Chatham to Dunoon in Argyll in Scotland. On 19 July1940 whilst on an escorted surface passage the submarine was in collision off Norfolk with an armed escort trawler and was sunk. Although some of the crew survived, Ralph Bardoe died in the accident.