Raven was educated at St Ronan's School, then situated at Worthing, before proceeding in September 1928 with a scholarship to Marlborough College, where he distinguished himself academically, winning prizes in English verse, Greek iambics, Greek and Latin prose and Latin verse, culminating in a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge.
Following the award of a first class degree in classics at Trinity[REF] Raven became in 1946 a research fellow there.