Son of the late William Henry Paine, of Canterbury, and Mary, his wife; husband of Lilian Josephine Paine, of Bamfield, Medstead, Hants. Served in the South African War. Born December 22nd 1876, in Canterbury, Kent, the eldest son of William Henry and Mary (nee Buss) Paine, of Derwent House, Canterbury. Husband of Lilian Josephine (nee Naylor) Paine (married August 24th 1908, at St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa), of Barnfield, Medstead, Hampshire. Father of Geoffrey William Wright Halden (born August 27th 1909, in Umtali, Rhodesia), Catherine Mary (born December 27th 1910), and Josephine Halden (born February 8th 1914). He was educated at Tonbridge School in Kent (1891-1895), and upon leaving qualified as an electrical engineer. He went to Queensland, Australia, and later to South Africa, where he served with the Border Police against the uprising in Bechuanaland. On the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899 he was in England, and enlisted in the Electrical Engineers, later transferring to Steinbecker's Horse (Queen's South Africa Medal with 4 clasps). After the war he returned to England, where he was employed as an electrical engineer at the power station on the Isle of Thanet. In May 1905 he returned to South Africa to take up farming in Mashonaland. In 1909 he returned to England with his wife and son, and on the outbreak of war in August 1914 he was farming in Hampshire. On August 5th 1914, he left his farm to enlist in the Legion of Frontiersmen, but in November 1914, he applied for a commission in the RMLI, as the Legion's chances of serving at the front were slim.