Born in Leeds, Reginald Staunton Cawthra was the son of electrical engineer, James Herbert Cawthra and his wife, Margaret Anne.

Reginald had joined the High School in September, 1906, but left the following year to attend Seaford College.

He returned to the High School in November, 1911, and left in May, 1912, to go with the family to South Africa.

He served with the Royal Engineers as a Private, but little else is known of his military career, other than he survived the war.

He travelled back from South Africa in 1928, when he was recorded as being at the South African High Commission in London.

He died in London at the age of 46, while at the Green Park Hotel, in Half Moon Street, London.