Peter was the younger son of Sir Philip Crawford Vickery and his wife, Phyllis Field Fairweather. He was born in India. His father was in the Indian Police and became Director of Indian Political Intelligence from 1926 until Independence in 1947. He was knighted the following year.

Peter was educated at Winchester where he was a Scholar. He Matriculated in 1942 and was awarded a History Scholarship. He was awarded a 1st in the short course.

On 28 January 1944, he was gazetted Second Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards.

He died of wounds on 18 April 1945 and is buried in the Argenta Gap War Cemetery Plot III, D, 19.

The Argenta Gap War Cemetery marks the final stages of the hard fighting in Italy in the spring of 1945. The site of the cemetery was chosen by the 78th Division for battlefield burials, and it was later enlarged when burials were brought in from the surrounding district. It contains, among others, the graves of many men of the Commandos engaged in the amphibious operations on the shores of the Comacchio lagoon early in April 1945.

His parents were living at The Moat House, Hampton Poyle, Oxfordshire.