Kitchener was born in Ballylongford near Listowel, County Kerry, in Ireland, son of army officer Henry Horatio Kitchener (1805–1894) and Frances Anne Chevallier (d. 1864; daughter of John Chevallier, a priest, of Aspall Hall, and his third wife, Elizabeth, née Cole).

His father had only recently bought land in Ireland, under a scheme to encourage the purchase of land, after selling his commission.
They then moved to Switzerland where the young Kitchener was educated at Montreux, then at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.
Pro-French and eager to see action, he joined a French field ambulance unit in the Franco-Prussian War.
His father took him back to Britain after he caught pneumonia while ascending in a balloon to see the French Army of the Loire in action.

Commissioned into the Royal Engineers on 4 January 1871, his service in France had violated British neutrality, and he was reprimanded by the Duke of Cambridge, the commander-in-chief.
He served in Mandatory Palestine, Egypt and Cyprus as a surveyor, learned Arabic, and prepared detailed topographical maps of the areas.
His brother, Lt.
Gen. Sir Walter Kitchener, had also entered the army, and was Governor of Bermuda from 1908 to 1912.
Kitchener was born in Ballylongford near Listowel, County Kerry, in Ireland, son of army officer Henry Horatio Kitchener (1805–1894) and Frances Anne Chevallier (d. 1864; daughter of John Chevallier, a priest, of Aspall Hall, and his third wife, Elizabeth, née Cole).
His father had only recently bought land in Ireland, under a scheme to encourage the purchase of land, after selling his commission. They then moved to Switzerland where the young Kitchener was educated at Montreux, then at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Pro-French and eager to see action, he joined a French field ambulance unit in the Franco-Prussian War. His father took him back to Britain after he caught pneumonia while ascending in a balloon to see the French Army of the Loire in action. 
Commissioned into the Royal Engineers on 4 January 1871, his service in France had violated British neutrality, and he was reprimanded by the Duke of Cambridge, the commander-in-chief. He served in Mandatory Palestine, Egypt and Cyprus as a surveyor, learned Arabic, and prepared detailed topographical maps of the areas. His brother, Lt. Gen. Sir Walter Kitchener, had also entered the army, and was Governor of Bermuda from 1908 to 1912.
Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener