Philip Mason, son of general practitioner Herbert Alfred Mason, was educated at Sedbergh School and Balliol College, Oxford, taking a first-class degree in Modern Greats.
Philip Mason was one of three children- two sons and a daughter- of Herbert Alfred Mason (18761968), a general practitioner at Duffield, Derbyshire, and his wife Ethel Addison (18801956), daughter of Herbert Addison Woodruff, an engineer and manager of a Cammell Laird steel factory. Mason was educated at Sedbergh School and Balliol College, Oxford, taking a first-class degree in Modern Greats. 
