Born on Christmas Day in Durban, South Africa, Noel Langley was the son of Durban High School headmaster Aubrey Samuel Langley and Dora Agnes Allison. Noel Langley attended his father's school (Durban High School- KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) until 1930. Noel's relationship with his headmaster father was a strained one as he did not meet his father's expectations. His father, Aubrey Samuel 'Madevu' (the isiZulu word for mustache), was a queer mix of sensitive artist, strict disciplinarian and rugby football enthusiast valued boys who were physically active. It seems that Langley senior rejected his son who was artistically inclined and physically weak (he was barred from sport and cadet drill by his doctor, Dr George Campbell). Their relationship was so poor that Noel bragged to Jack Cope (a fellow Natalian, poet and novelist) after his father's death that he had helped kill his father by sending him money for drink.