Samuel Henry Fomison's secondary education was at the Tynemouth Municipal High School, from 1913 to 1919. On leaving school he went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, first gaining a BA in Modern Languages and then the English Tripos, in 1922, and finally emerging in 1923 with a Cambridge Teaching Diploma.

As a modern language teacher, he spent time in France, Belgium, Vienna, Germany and Austria.

His first teaching job was at The College, Leamington Spa, starting in September, 1923, but this lasted only four months. Then, in September, 1924, he joined the South Shields High School, and transferred to the Harton school in 1936, where he stayed until he moved on to the Tottenham County School, Middlesex, after the summer holidays in 1943.