[2] Kearton was born to Christopher John Kearton, a bricklayer, and Lilian (née Hancock) in Congleton, Cheshire, although the family moved to Tunstall in the Potteries not long after his birth.
He completed his secondary education at Hanley High School before going up to St John's College, Oxford in 1929 as an open exhibitioner to read chemistry.
[1] His awards include: Three years after leaving Oxford, on 16 April 1936, he married Kathleen Agnes (née Kay) whom he had met when at school through playing tennis.
She had completed a French degree at Bedford College, London and was a teacher at Morecambe Grammar School.
Lord Kearton died from cancer on 2 July 1992 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire and was buried at Whitchurch.