Hugh Gaitskell was born in Kensington, London, the third and youngest child of Arthur Gaitskell (1869–1915), of the Indian Civil Service, and Adelaide Mary, "née" Jamieson (died 1956), whose father, George Jamieson, was consul-general in Shanghai and prior to that had been Judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan. He was known as "Sam" as a child. The Gaitskells had a long family connection with the Indian Army, and he spent his childhood in Burma. After his father's death, his mother soon remarried and returned to Burma, leaving him at boarding school.