Born in Montreal, Canada East, Peuchen was the son of a railroad contractor; his maternal grandfather managed the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.

[2] He also owned a vast, Victorian estate and mansion called "Woodlands," located on Kempenfelt Bay, near Barrie, Ontario just north of Toronto.

Peuchen publicly blasted Captain Smith and the crew of Titanic, criticizing their seamanship as substandard; however, his official testimony at the United States Senate inquiry into the disaster was tempered somewhat from interviews he gave in the days after the rescue.

In 1987, Peuchen's wallet was recovered from the area around the remains of Titanic; streetcar tickets, a traveler's cheque, and his calling card were found inside.

In Toronto, some deemed Peuchen a coward given that he was a man who had survived the sinking, but most found his participation in the ill-fated voyage to be largely heroic and courageous.

In part due to this debated reputation, speculation gathered that his expected promotion to lieutenant-colonel in The Queen's Own Rifles would not be awarded.

When World War I began, Peuchen retired from Standard Chemical to command the Home Battalion of the Queen's Own Rifles.