 Ewan Christian's mother was Katherine Scales (d.1822) of Thwaitehead in Lancashire.Both of the architect's parents died when he was around seven years old and he was thereafter brought up by his grandparents at Mortlake and then, after his grandfather died, by his eldest brother, John, who lived in Wigmore Street in Marylebone.He was educated at Christ's Hospital School from the age of nine, first at the junior school in Hertford then at the main school in Newgate Street, London (this moved to Horsham in 1902 and Christian, who became a Governor of the school, acted as assessor in an architectural competition for the new buildings in 1893).