He was apprenticed as a lithographer, but served in the British Army (Wiltshire Regiment) during World War I and then studied at the Westminster School of Art. He fought at Mons, Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia. He was wounded four times, the most serious of which was a shot to the left side of his jaw, and mentioned in despatches. From 1917 to 1919, he served as a captain in the Indian Army.