He was the eldest of seven boys. His father was a successful potters' merchant, and his mother, the youngest daughter of the Headmaster of Lucton School, Herefordshire; the Penkhull house was the first home of the young couple. One of young Oliver's earliest recollections was of the Crimean War and the peace celebrations at Stoke. While living at Penkhull he attended a local dame school, and in 1859 went to Newport Grammar School, Salop, where he was very unhappy. When he was 12, the family moved to a larger residence, Moreton House, Wolstanton, where, in an outbuilding, he was able to undertake his first experiments. In the same year, he left Newport and went to Combs School, Suffolk, but at 14 his schooling was cut short and he had to help in his father's business. He attended classes at the Wedgwood Institute, Burslem, and at 20 matriculated to London University. With help from his mother and aunt - his father disapproved - he went to study at the Royal College of Science and University College, and eventually graduated D.Sc. in 1877.

By 1875 his father had become wealthy and the family moved to Watlands Hall, Wolstanton, from where, on August 22nd, Oliver left for Newcastle to marry Mary Marshall, a local girl who had been a student at the Slade School of Art, London. He was appointed Professor of Physics at the newly-founded University College, Liverpool in 1881, and was the first Principal of Birmingham University from 1900 to 1919, receiving a knighthood in 1902. He achieved world fame and was showered with academic honours for his work in wireless communication. His experiments preceded many of Marconi's, and another series helped Einstein in his formulation of the theory of relativity. He joined the Society for Psychical Research in 1883 and was President from 1901-4.

In his book, "Raymond," an account of his attempt to communicate with his son who had been killed on the Western Front in 1915, he wrote, "I am as convinced of continuous existence on the other side of death as I am of existence here." And so, after a long life, one of the finest intellectuals that North Staffordshire has produced finally ended his days at Amesbury, Wiltshire, on August 22nd, 1940."