Born in the Midlands as one of ten children. Following his early schooling, he served in the Royal Engineers and Royal Ordinance Corps. During World War II he was a bomb disposal soldier in London. In 1942 Berry met Vera Brittain and they became close friends. His life before and during the war provided the material for her last novel, Born 1925.

Berry pursued various jobs and engaged in socio-political issues through prison visiting and pacifist campaigns. During the difficult years when he divided his time between a taxing job in London and the home which he and his partner, the distinguished potter Ray Marshall, had established at Stedham, near Midhurst (where Marshall ran a pottery from 1952), he made some forays into publishing his work. In his last thirteen years he shared his life with the artist Eric Leazell. They lived in west Sussex.

In 1996 Paul Berry wrote Vera Brittain's biography, titled: Vera Brittain: A Life. In 1979 the book was made into a powerful BBC drama.