 He was born in Yorkshire on 19 April 1881, the son of Daniel Pearson and Cecilia Parr.He was educated at Liverpool College and later studied Natural History at Liverpool University graduating BSc in 1902, and then doing postgraduate studies at Manchester University.In 1910 Pearson went to Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) as Marine Biologist to the Ceylon Government and as Director of the Colombo Museum.