 On 3 October 1808 he was created a baronet, first of the Perring baronets of Membland, Devon.Perring was described as "the son of a poor man".He was born in about 1765, the eldest son of Philip Perring (died 1797), of Denbury House, Church Street, Modbury in Devon, a serge maker, by his wife and cousin Susanna Legassick, daughter of Richard (or Pascoe) Legassick, apparently a wealthy cloth merchant at Modbury.