 Essing was born in Dirkshorn, a small village near Schagen in North Holland.His father was a "gemeentesecretaris", formerly the head of a municipality's civil servants, and later became mayor of Blokker.In 1956, he was a law student and the president of the local Catholic youth club; to raise money for the club he got the Dutch Swing College Band, at the time the best-known Dixieland band in the country, to play in "Op Hoop van Zegen", Blokker's auction hall—his father was the president of the auction.