What kind of education did Henry James receive as a child?

Henry James’s childhood education was characterized by frequent travel and a lack of formal, consistent schooling. Rather than attending traditional schools, he and his siblings were educated by a series of tutors and governesses.1

His upbringing was marked by his father’s restless lifestyle, which involved moving the family between various locations, including Manhattan, Geneva, Paris, and London. This itinerant lifestyle allowed the James children to acquire multiple languages and a broad awareness of European culture that was uncommon for Americans of that era.12

Later, as a young adult, James enrolled at Harvard Law School at the age of 19, though he spent much of his time there reading literature rather than focusing on legal studies.13