Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was born on Saturday in December 1873, in a village called Nalta, previously under Khulna and now under Satkhira district of Bangladesh. His father, Munshi Mohammad Mofijiuddin was a pious, wealthy and a generous man. His grandfather, Munshi Mohammad Danesh, was also a religious and affluent person. Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) was his grandfather’s only son’s eldest issue. Therefore, from his very childhood, both his father and grandfather were very keen on providing his with a good an education. He started studying before he crossed the age of five. After completion of education in the elementary school, he was admitted to the Middle English School at Nalta.
After a while, he was admitted in class IV (present equivalent of class VII) at the Takee Government High School, West Bengal. In the annual examination of Class III (presently, Class VIII) at this school, he stood first and as promoted to class II (now Class IX). At the end of the year, he got himself admitted to the LMS Institution (London Missionary School) in Calcutta in Class II. In 1890, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) passed the Entrance (now the S.S.C) examination with distinction and was awarded a scholarship. He passed F.A (now H.S.C) from Hoogli College in 1892 and the B.A examination from the Presidency College in Calcutta in 1894. He obtained Master of Arts (M.A) degree in Philosophy from Calcutta University in 1895.