The Curzon family is of Norman origin. Alfred was the son of Alfred Curzon and Sophia, née Holden, and the grandson of the 2nd Baron Scarsdale, Alfred Curzon was educated at Rugby School and at the University of Oxford. He succeeded his uncle to the title in 1856, in which year he married Blanche, née Senhouse. He was ordained into the Church of England and subsequently became rector of Kedleston, a position he occupied for fifty-six years. The marriage produced four sons, of who George Curzon, born in 1859, was the eldest, and seven daughters, one of whom died in infancy. Blanche Curzon died in 1875.