Lamb was born in Stockport, Cheshire, the son of John Lamb and his wife Elizabeth, née Rangeley. John Lamb was a foreman in a cotton mill who had gained some distinction by the invention of an improvement to spinning machines, he died when his son was a child. Lamb's mother married again, and soon afterwards Horace went to live with his strict maternal aunt, Mrs. Holland. He studied at Stockport Grammar School, where he made the acquaintance of a wise and kindly headmaster in the Rev. Charles Hamilton, and a graduate of classics, Frederic Slaney Poole, who in his final year became a good friend. It was from these two tutors that Lamb acquired his interest in mathematics and, to a somewhat lesser extent, classical literature.Brian Launder. (2012). 'Horace Lamb and the circumstances of his appointment at Owens College', Notes Rec. R. Soc. 67: 139–158
