Paul Seargeant was the only child of an automobile engineer, Thomas William Seargeant, and May Lilian née Sanders. He was born in Bristol on 25 February 1924. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School and Bristol University, where he won gold medals in medicine and surgery, and the Royal Hospital gold medal in 1947. After qualifying, he did junior posts at Frenchay, Westminster, the Gordon and Kingston Hospitals. He was influenced by R G Paul and R A Fitzgibbon in Bristol, and R M Franklin, A d'Abreu, Stanley Aylett and Ronald Raven in London. He was a keen member of the RAMC Territorial Army, was President of the local Polio Society and the British Legion, and was a leader in the Sandringham Scouts. He married a Miss Rossiter in 1950. They had no children. He retired to Helston in Cornwall, where he continued to enjoy his hobbies of gardening and sailing. He died on 14 October 2002.