Peter Noel Chubb was born on December 23, 1928, at East Knoyle, the elder of two brothers. He enlisted in the Coldstream Guards in 1946 and was based at Wellington barracks in London from where he performed guard duties at Buckingham palace and Windsor Castle. In 1948 he served in Palestine and Libya during the peace keeping mission there. In 1950 Peter returned to the UK as he had contracted polio in Tripoli and spent three months in hospital after which he was no longer able to continue as a drill instructor and was downgraded to office work at Pirbright. In 1951 Peter married Evelyn Coombes at Wilton Church and they lived in a flat in North Street, where both of their children were born before moving to Salisbury in 1954.