 Born at Adelaide, he was educated in the city at Prince Alfred College, before going up to the University of Adelaide to study medicine, where he gained a first class degree.A keen sportsman, having captained the Prince Alfred College cricket team, he proceeded to play Australian rules football for Sturt Football Club as a half forward flanker, making one senior appearance for the club in the 1915 South Australian Football League.He was the University of Adelaide's Rhodes Scholar for 1916, but did not travel to England to take up his scholarship at Balliol College, Oxford until 1918.