Walter Buckmaster

Walter Buckmaster was one of the finest polo players England has ever produced and, in 1911, was the first player in England to receive a maximum 10-goal handicap. He was educated at Repton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He played football for both and went on to become captain of the Cambridge Polo team, winning a Blue.

After University, Buckmaster worked on the Stock Exchange but carried on playing polo in the London area and with the Freeboeters he won the Champion Cup in 1896. He then formed the Old Cantabs. in 1898 and in their first 14 years of existence they were invincible, winning five Champion Cups and four Ranelagh Open Cups. In total, Buckmaster won the Champion Cup 11 times. Walter was a member of the 1900 Olympic silver-medal winning BLO team in Paris. They were a mixed team of three British and one American player. Eight years later in London, Buckmaster collected another silver medal, this time as a representative of the Hurlingham team. In between, in 1902, Buckmaster was a member of the successful England team that won the Westchester Cup at Hurlingham, having also been on the team that won the unofficial match in 1900. Whilst touring America with the England team in April 1910 he sustained a fractured collar-bone following a fall during a practice game at Lakewood, New Jersey, but he was back in action at Hurlingham just six weeks later.

Buckmaster retired from playing polo in 1923 and became an umpire. He was also Master to the Warwickshire Foxhounds for many years and it was at Warwick hospital that he died following an operation, shortly after his 70th birthday