At a very early age he lost his father, and his education was thereby curtailed, but what he lacked in scholastic knowledge was more than compensated for in the school of experience and hard work.
He served first in the Record Office, where he acquired an aptitude for original research; and later in the Legal Branch, where he developed an interest in flag questions, upon which he became a recognised authority, and wrote a standard work.
The completion of the Admiralty Arch over the Mall afforded accommodation, long desired, for the reorganisation of the Library, and for this arduous work Perrin was just the man.
In a little over two years the progress made was eulogised in a special article in The Times on 16 September 1910, which referred to the transfer of some 50,000 volumes to their new, spacious, and well-lighted apartments as having removed a long-standing reproach.
Mr Perrin retained the respect of all with whom he came into contact, and his place is difficult to fill.From 1922 until his death Perrin was honorary editor of the Mariner's Mirror and honorary secretary of both the Navy Records Society (since 1912: it owes to him its revival after the War) and, by appointment of the Admiralty, to the Trustees of the National Maritime Museum and MacPherson Collection at Greenwich.