Educated at Queen’s College (North Adelaide) and PAC, Peter Laffer worked at the tobacco firm of WD and HO Wills. As a member of the Adelaide Riding Club, he was well known in horse riding circles and successfully competed at shows and competitions.
Peter Laffer served on HMAS Sydney and went down with the vessel following its encounter with the German raider Kormoran. Before conversion to an auxiliary cruiser, Kormoran was a vessel of the Hamburg Amerika Line. It spent twelve months successfully destroying shipping in the Indian Ocean until its encounter with the Sydney. The events leading to the loss of the Sydney remain one of the mysteries of WWII and its final resting place has never been ascertained.
Able Seaman Laffer was a contemporary of Lieutenant King at Princes.