David Instone was the younger son of Alfred Instone [formerly Einstein] and his wife Phyllis Hilda Goldberg. He had an older sister.

He was educated at Westminster School. He came up in 1940 and spent a year at Christ Church.

He was serving as a Corporal in the Intelligence Corps when he died, tragically, on 19 March 1945.

He is buried in the Cesena War Cemetery Plot II, H, 13

The notice of his death in The Times gave his parents’ address in Kensington and Corner Cottage, West Chillington. They requested no letters.

His brother who preceded him to Westminster and Christ Church was a cryptographer at Bletchley Park during the war.

David’s paternal grandfather was a silversmith who moved to England from Germany. His uncle, Samuel Einstein born in 1879 was a shipping manager for a foreign company with offices in Cardiff. In 1908 he went into business as a coal factor with his brother Theodore. In 1914 they bought their first ship. Further acquisitions were made during the First World War. After the war, the Instones were involved not only in shipping but also owned collieries. They owned twelve vessels trading in the coal trade. In 1919, along with their brother Alfred, they started Instone Airline which flew, initially, from Cardiff to Paris via London.

Samuel Instone was knighted in 1921 for his work representing the International Chamber of Commerce at the League of Nations. Alfred stood as a Conservative candidate in Leicester in 1923 and 1924.

In April 1924, Instone Airlines became part of Imperial Airways.