Geoffrey Charles Purslow was born on 19th January 1916 at the Asylum Villas in Cheddleton, Staffordshire. The villas were attached to St Edward's Hospital Chapel, where Geoffrey's maternal grandfather was Clerk Of Works. His mother Mabel Beatrice Pebworth had married George Purslow in 1915. Mabel was born in Putney in London and was one of five children to Henry and Ellen Pebworth.

George was a Bank Clerk for the United Counties Bank until the outbreak of the First World War whereupon he enlisted as a Second Lieutenant in the 5th Batallion of the North Staffordshire Regiment. On 12th October 1918 George Purslow was killed in action leaving Mabel who was expecting their second child, a widow with a young family. Geoffrey's younger brother, George, was born in 1919.

Geoffrey was schooled at Adams' Grammar School in Newport, Shropshire where he excelled academically and in sports. Today a portrait of Geoffrey in his uniform hangs in the school library; also a plaque records his name along with those of other pupils from the school who died in the Second World War. He entered the University of Birmingham in October 1935 to study medicine. There he gained an interest in sailing, enjoying the waters of Edgbaston Reservoir as a member of the Midlands Sailing Club. Geoffrey graduated as Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in June 1940.

Geoffrey served aboard the merchant vessel Deido, requisitioned from the Elder Dempster Line, before transferring to the Laconia in December 1941.

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