Maurice was born on 28 November 1926 in Stepney, London to Joseph, who worked as a tailor, and Milly nee Goldschneider and he had a younger sister Helene.

It is not known when Maurice joined the Merchant Navy, but he was based on H.M.S. Khedive and was only eighteen when he died from septicemia at the R.N. Auxiliary Hospital in Bombay, India.