Baring was the eighth child, and fifth son, of Edward Charles Baring, first Baron Revelstoke, of the Baring banking family, and his wife Louisa Emily Charlotte Bulteel, granddaughter of the second Earl Grey. Born in Mayfair, he was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. After an abortive start of a diplomatic career, he travelled widely, particularly in Russia. He reported as an eye-witness of the Russo-Japanese War for the London "Morning Post".Baring, Maurice (1906). "With the Russians in Manchuria," p. vi.</ref>