Page "John Straffen" Paragraph 1

Straffen's father, John Senior, was a soldier in the British Army.

He was the third child in the family ; his older sister was regarded as a " high grade mental defective " who died in 1952.

Straffen was born at Bordon Camp in Hampshire where his father was then based, but at the age of two his father was posted abroad and the family spent six years in India.

Returning to Britain in March 1938, Straffen's father took a discharge from the Army and the family settled in Bath, Somerset.