David Edward Thorley was one of the eight children of George Henry Thorley and his wife Frances Lizzie nee Wigley. He was the twin of Dorothy Elizabeth, and they were born on 8 January 1937. They were baptised at Stoneleigh on 16 May. In 1939 the family lived in Birmingham Road where father George was a driller at the aero works.
David married Shirley Edmunds on 29 September 1962 and they had two daughters, Nichola and Sarah. Sadly he died at the young age of 53 on 5 June 1990. His ashes are interred in the cremation area of the churchyard but there is also a bench to commemorate him.