H.S.M. Kemp was born in Woolwich, England, in 1892. He received his high-school education in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

At the age of fifteen, he came to Canada, where he was a bank clerk, trader, tripper, and homesteader. In 1928, he entered the Customs Service at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and, in 1949, was collector of Customs and Excise for the Port of Prince Albert.