Arthur Cecil Barker Biggs was born in North London on 9 March 1885. His father, John Maundy Biggs, was a general practitioner and a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Florence Elizabeth Biggs, née Hopkinson, his mother, was the daughter of the originator of the Hopkinson piano. He was their second child and first son. After attending Epsom College he proceeded to University College Hospital to study medicine. His first appointments were at the Queen's Hospital for Children and the Children's Hospital, Great Ormond Street. Moving to New Zealand he became a local medical officer for the railways, post office and prison. During the first world war he was a Captain in the RAMC in France and was awarded the MC. He served as a Major in the NZMC in Egypt in the second world war. He married Nora Kirby in 1925 and they had a son and a daughter. He played cricket and rugby football and his hobby was English history. He is thought to have died in 1976.