Raymond was born in 1927 in Tunbridge Wells, of humble parents. His father was a jobbing gardener. An injury at birth left him disabled for life. Apart from sporting activities he led a normal and active life. He attended primary schools in Pembury and Rusthall, Kent but then at 13 obtained a scholarship to the Tunbridge Wells Technical and Commercial Institute.
At 15, and for four years, he was employed in the local offices of Messrs Fremlins, Brewers. He then obtained a Kent County Council Exhibition to attend Ruskin College, Oxford, to study Economics, History and Politics and obtained his diploma.
After further office jobs in Leeds and London he joined the Family Service Units (FSU) in Liverpool at 23 and worked among severely disadvantaged families in Toxteth and the Docklands. It was at the FSU that he met his future wife, June.
From 1953 to 1956 he read for a sociology degree at the London School of Economics before joining the Public Health Dept in Birmingham to pursue further social work with families. He and June married in 1957 at the Birmingham Oratory. They had three children: Christopher, Clare and John.
He spent four years at the Birmingham Council of Social Service between 1961 to 1964 as secretary to the Personal Service Committee, before returning to the Local Authority Welfare Department as a Divisional Officer.
Raymond was seconded to Birmingham University for a postgraduate course when he became a fully qualified social worker.
In 1970 he became an area manager in the new Social Services Department for Area 12 in South West Birmingham for 14 years, before becoming Inspector of Services for the Physically Handicapped.
He was appointed a magistrate on the Birmingham Bench in 1978 where he served for 14 years. He was also a part-time lecturer for the Extra-Mural Department of the University, and for the WEA. He was active on the committees of several voluntary organisations, including the Consumers’ Group; the Middlemore Homes; the Victims Support Group; the Association of Stroke Clubs; the Disabled Person’s Advisory Committee and the Springfield Neighbourhood Forum. He took early retirement in 1985.
He was also active in the Association of Family Caseworkers; the Institute of Social Welfare Officers; and the British Association of Social Workers (BASW). His wife became a psychiatric social worker in a local clinic for emotionally vulnerable children and her career paralleled his. Her sudden death in 2004 at 79 years of age was a great blow to him, after a partnership of nearly 50 years.
In October 2006 Raymond left Birmingham after 50 years to live near his daughter. He lived in sheltered accommodation for the elderly at Coverdale Court, Yeovil, moved from Coverdale Court to Latimer Lodge Residential Home within the care complex there, then to another residential home before moving to Cookson's Court Nursing home in July 2016. He died there on 7th February 2021, aged 93 years. Raymond is buried with his wife at Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire.