John Oakes Marriott was born in London, the son of the highly decorated senior British Army Officer, Major General Sir John Charles Oakes Marriott (1895–1978).  He studied at Eton College and then Chelsea Polytechnic, and was privately taught by the Austrian artist, poet and playwright Oskar Kokoschka CBE (1886–1980).  He was an exhibited artist whose work was shown in both one-man and group exhibitions.