Alexander Stockton Cussons was born on 30 December 1914. Schooled near Montreux, in Switzerland, he became fluent in French and German. Whilst he was at school, he played in a jazz band as the drummer. After a spell working in Manchester at Cussons Sons and Company limited, his father sent him out to South Africa to run the factory that his sister Marjorie and her husband Leslie Goodwin had founded before the war. Alex served in the South African army during the war. Whilst in South Africa, he met and married Wendy Grace Johnston (born 1 October 1925), on 25 February 1947, Their son, Jeremy Alexander Cussons was born on 2 September 1950 followed by another son, Richard Stockton Cussons (born 1 October 1957).