Ray Barman was born at Fenham Barracks in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1935. His family moved to Hong Kong in 1936 residing at Gun Club Hill Barracks in Kowloon and stayed there until 1940, at which time the family was evacuated to Australia returning to England in 1946. He also served in the Royal Artillery as an Artillery surveyor and spent two years in Germany with the British Army of the Rhine. Ray returned to live in Australia in 1957, finally retiring to the south coast in New South Wales in 2000.