 Eduard David was born on 11 June 1863 in Ediger/Mosel as the son of Johann Heinrich David, a Prussian civil servant, and his wife Wilhelmine Elisabeth (née Werner).After completing a four-year commercial apprenticeship ("kaufmännische Lehre"), David studied at the university at Giessen where he was introduced to socialist ideals.He worked as a teacher at a gymnasium and establishing a newspaper, the "Mitteldeutsche Sonntagszeitung," in 1893.