His parents lived in Italy for several years, until his father drowned near Livorno (then known to the English as Leghorn), whereupon his mother moved back to England with him.

In 1845, giving his address as Putney (then a riverside village in Surrey just upstream of Clapham), he was elected to the Royal Thames Yacht Club.

During a later period, however, it was rented to a tenant that used the facility for charity fund-raising performances where tickets were publicly sold, thus contravening the local bylaws.

In 1960, a local teacher, Leslie Williams, formed the Bournemouth Children's Theatre in the old school buildings, which later became the Drama Centre.

Residents raised money for a blue plaque to be placed on the two remaining rooms, to commemorate Sir Percy laying the foundation stone.

in 1889 and was buried in the family vault in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, Bournemouth, reputedly with the heart of his father alongside him.

In that vault, in addition to the patrilineal family, lie the remains of his maternal grandparents, namely Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin; Shelley and his wife were instrumental in moving their bones from St Pancras Old Church in London.