Samuel was the headmaster of Albert Park Grammar School; the Congregationalist minister Alfred Charles Newbury was an elder brother.
Albert spent most of his childhood in Geelong.
In 1909, at the age of 18, Newbury entered the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, Melbourne, where he studied under Frederick McCubbin and Bernard Hall.
In 1916, Newbury studied under Max Meldrum who influenced his work.