Percy Shaw was born in Boothtown, Halifax in 1890, he was as one of fifteen children and attended Boothtown Board School. Being part of such a large family, it was important that Percy should earn a wage and so after leaving school at age 13 he worked in all of the main local industries to be found in Halifax including textiles, engineering and machine tool production.  

He then later joined his father working in a machine tool workshop in Boothtown near the family home. During the First World War the workshop began to make munitions for the war effort, as well as a special wire needed for making soldiers’ khaki leggings.