He was born 1913 in Peking, as the oldest son to Australian adventurer and journalist George Ernest Morrison (1862–1920) and Jennie Wark Robin (1889–1923). His father had been living in Peking on and off since 1897, when he had been stationed there as The Times' first Peking correspondent. In 1919, the family moved to United Kingdom, where the father died in 1920. Ian Morrison and his two younger brothers, Alastair Gwynne (1915–2009) and Colin (1917–1990), were all educated at Winchester College before continuing to Cambridge University.