Roland Erasmus Philipps was the second son of Lord St. David and his wife, Leonora Gerstenberg. He was born at 24 Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster on February 27, 1890 and educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford were he took his bachelor's degree in 1911, taking honours in Jurisprudence. Like his father, he studied law rather as an introduction to politics than as the profession, which he meant to adopt. Most of the great public schools supported settlements in the poorer quarters of the industrial centers, so as to enable boys of the wealthier classes to take an interest in, and gain personal contact with, lads less fortunately placed. This experience was of great value, as it helped them to appreciate with sympathy and understanding the great social problems, which they would be called upon to solve when they assumed the responsibilities of citizenship. Roland Philipps was immediately attracted by this settlement work, for it was closely linked with the social and philanthropic activities of his mother in which he was already a willing helper. It was a typical upper class upbringing and those who knew him would not have been surprised if Roland had opted for a political career. His opinions were those of the radical wing of the Liberal Party and he went so far as to become prospective parliamentary candidate for South Glamorgan.