 His parents were Frank Hume Lyall Paton (son of John Gibson Paton) and Clara Sophia Heyer.He was educated at Scotch College, Melbourne (1914–1920), and then Melbourne University (1921–1925).He won the Rhodes Scholarship for Victoria (Australia) in 1925, which allowed him to continue his studies at Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1926 to 1929.