[2] He was the son of the Reverend Thomas and Margaret Jane Probert of Blackwood, South Wales.
Probert had his first education at Jones West Monmouth School, then at St Catharine's College, Cambridge.
He spent a brief time at the Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, from 1946-1947.
He joined the National Gas Turbine Establishment in 1947 and remained there until 1963 (as Deputy Director after 1957).
Probert made notable contributions to many aircraft technologies, including ramjets, scramjets, vertical takeoff for Harrier jump jets, and reheat (afterburners).