The son of a cotton mill owner called Arthur William and his wife, a vicar's daughter Agnes Louisa, he was born in Didsbury, Manchester, and educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, before going on to study modern history at Merton College, where he graduated honours (second class) in 1897. He joined the Royal Naval College, Osborne in 1905, shortly after its foundation, making up for the lack of a textbook by producing his own Sea Kings of Britain (3 vols., 1907–11) and being promoted to head of English and history in January 1913.