Percy Grey Holton was born in Glasgow on 28 April 1915, the second of three children of Percy William Holton (1877-1948) and Maggie Conway (1876-1966).

He was educated at Mount Florida Primary School and Rutherglen Academy (1927-1931) and after leaving school, began to train as a commercial artist, working for Somerville & Milne and attending evening classes at Glasgow School of Art. Percy moved to a post with Scottish Studios, where he was employed when the War broke out. As a keen sportsman, he played football and cricket in the years before the War.

When called up for active service, he joined the Royal Engineers and worked as an artist in the production of maps. Before sailing for service overseas, he was stationed near Southampton and met his future wife Margaret Emily Whitlock, who worked there as a tax officer. Percy spent the rest of the War abroad, serving in Palestine, Egypt, Italy and Greece. Having returned to England, he was married to Margaret on 24th November 1945 at St. Mary's Congregational Chapel, in Devizes, Wiltshire, shortly before he was demobbed from the Army.

He and Margaret settled in Stepps, just outside Glasgow and Percy resumed work at Scottish Studios. Soon after this he decided to freelance as a commercial artist, becoming particularly sought after for his lettering skills.

Some years later, around 1950, he took up a post with British Transport Commission, based in Edinburgh and soon moved from Stepps to the Craigentinny area of Edinburgh. The work at British Transport Commission involved, amongst other things, the design and layout of the highly regarded publication "Scotland's magazine." In the early 1960s, when Dr. Beeching was Minister for Transport, many railway lines were closed and so was BTC, which ceased to exist at the end of 1962.

Percy then gained an appointment as Publicity Manager at Ethicon Ltd., manufacturers of surgical sutures, with whom he stayed until his retirement in 1980 and the family moved to the Corstorphine area in 1965.

Percy had a great interest in the family history and also became an active supporter of the Scottish National Party, for whom he undertook some design work, including that for a prize winning election address in 1983. He also took up painting again as a leisure activity in his retirement, exhibiting in local art shows.

Having enjoyed good health up until his retirement, he suffered from a number of health problems in his later years, involving several periods in hospital. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and eventually it became impossible for him to be cared for at home. In January 1999 he became a resident in Belgrave Lodge Nursing Home in Corstorphine, but in his last couple of years he could barely communicate and died peacefully as a result of a stroke on 17th August 2004.

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