Peter Denny Strang was born on 26 April 1889, in London, the son of William, an artist and Agnes.
He left school in 1905 and for some time studied at Aspatria Agricultural College in Cumberland.
[1] Strang played his rugby for his school's old boys club, Old Merchant Taylors.
After Aspatria College, he joined a firm of shipping agents, and was employed in Le Havre, France.
During World War I he voluntarily enlisted on 31 August 1914 with the London Scottish infantry regiment of the British Army as Private No.2522,[4] going on to serve on the Western Front with its 1st Battalion in 1915 as a corporal.