Herman T. Briscoe was born on November 6, 1893, in Shoals, Indiana. Briscoe received his teaching certificate in 1912 from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and began teaching at his home high school in Shoals for three academic years before becoming principal of Shoals high school and later superintendent of Shoals school district. He returned to Indiana University, earning his A.B. degree in chemistry with high distinction in 1917. Briscoe would then enlist in the U.S. army as a private in May 1918, transferring to the Hercules Powder Company as a research chemist until his discharge in 1919. Between 1919 and 1922, Briscoe held successful teaching positions at Stark’s Military Academy, as an Austin Teaching Fellow at Harvard University, and at Colby College. Returning to Indiana University for a third time, Herman T. Briscoe received his A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry in 1924 under the guidance of Professor Frank C. Mathers.
Briscoe married Orah Elberta Briscoe (née Cole) in 1928. Orah, born in Liberty Center, IN in 1907, received her B.A. in Latin in 1929 and her M.A. in English in 1934. In 1929, their first child Catherine was born. They would have a total of 4 children.