Ralph Frederick Locke joined the consular service in the Niger Coast Protectorate in 1892. He served in the Brohimi colonial expedition in 1894. In January 1897, he was part of Vice Consul Phillip’s mission, which triggered the subsequent British Military Campaign on Benin. With Alan Boisragon, he was one of only two British survivors of this episode (Boisragon, 1897[137]). Locke then went on to fight in the colonial expedition to Benin in February 1897.