Born in London in 1922, Peter qualified as a mechanical and aeronautical engineer in the early 1940s. He married Patricia Lewington in 1949 and had two children, Alison (1955) and Virginia (1957).

Always fond of the sea, he would have liked to have been a naval architect but indulged his nautical interests through boating and, later in life, through marine painting, paying particular attention to historical and technical accuracy. He also raised money through his paintings for the RNLI. However, he remained first and foremost a family man. He died aged 88 on 2 April 2011 at home with his family.