Arthur Piercy Gardiner Austin was born in Barbados on 2 August 1873, the son of John Gardiner Austin, a member of the firm of Cave Shephard and Co., shippers connected with the sugar trade, and his wife Dorothy Frere, née Grant. He was educated at Harrison College, Barbados and was then sent to England where for a time he worked for the firm of Jardine Mathieson. Later he joined the Colonial Bank and returned to the West Indies. In 1902 (May) he was sent back to Martinique immediately after the volcanic eruption which destroyed St Pierre, to find out what had happened to members of the Colonial Bank. On 10 June 1905 he married Louisa Watts, daughter of Sir Francis Watts who became the first Principal of the Royal College of Agriculture in Trinidad. They had four daughters and one son. He and his wife and first child went on leave to England and landed back in Jamaica a few days before the severe earthquake of January 1907, in which the Colonial Bank was damaged and Mr Austin slightly injured trying to save documents from the fire which broke out after the earthquake. He was transferred to British Guiana as manager of the Colonial Bank in Georgetown in 1913 and remained there through the 1914-1918 war. He became a member of the Executive Council of British Guiana. He was transferred to Barbados some time between 1928 and 1930 on his appointment as Local Director for the West Indies of what had now become part of Barclays Bank. Like his brother he was an athlete. He played a fine game of tennis and was in the crew of United Banks who won against Water Street and Civil Service in British Guiana. He retired just before the outbreak of World War II and came to England with his wife, son and youngest daughter. He died in England in 1962.