Arcisse Caumont was born at Bayeux to François de Caumont and Marie-Louise de Mathan Hue. One of his mentors was Charles de Gerville, known, amongst other things, for coining the term "romanesque" (French "roman"). In 1810, he was sent to school at Falaise. There, the high school principal, Jean-Louis-François Hervieu put him in charge of maintaining the physics instruments. This enraptured the young de Caumont, who had a penchant for studying natural sciences; at age 15, he would give lessons to his classmates. In 1817, back at Bayeux, he entered the high school, and after passing his baccalauréat, he entered law school. He graduated as a bachelor in law on 30 December 1822 and as a master of the law on 28 August 1824. His thesis was entitled: "Du rang que les hypothèques ont entre elles, du mode de leur inscription et de leur radiation".