In 1898 he was called to the bar. In 1900 he served in the Boer War as trooper in the Oxfordshire Imperial Yeomanry, for which bestowed the Queens Medal with three clasps. He joined in 1902 the Bedfordshire Yeomanry as an officer. He reported on Egypt for a newspaper and befriended Ernest Cassel. This led to chairmanship of the London Committee of the National Bank of Egypt and vice-presidency of the Morocco State Bank. In 1901 he was an official in the National Discount Company, then director in 1911 and chairman in 1922. In 1911 he was appointed to Oxford Chest by Lord Curzon and in 1922 became Deputy Steward of the University. At outbreak of World War I he was Major of B Squadron of the same yeomanry as 1902, then was the Colonel from May 1915. He took it to France that June as part of the 1st Cavalry Division. He was thus mentioned in dispatches and received the DSO. The Foreign Officer took him away from active service to be among its financial crisis advisors in November 1917, as such in 1919 he attended the Peace Conference, scrutinising the Bulgarian settlement. From 1919 until death he was chairman of the Export Credits Guarantee Department Advisory Committee and much praised. He was appointed to the inaugurate Oxford University Statutory Commission, resigning from that the next year to be British Plenipotentiary to the Tariff Conference in China 1925–1926. In 1927 he went to India on the Committee of Inquiry on Indian States-British relations. He was appointed to the Municipal Banks Committee and given other government work; he was some time honorary treasurer of the National Trust. For the above in 1929 he was made C.B. and in 1936 made baronet. His brother George attributed his "services were in constant request, and as constantly given, for matters of the highest importance" due to his ability to "master any subject with accuracy...and...width".
He was a Colonel in the British Army, still in the official Parliamentary report in 1920 holding command of the Bedfordshire Yeomanry. He was selected as the Conservative, winning, candidate for Uxbridge in 1918 for which he served one term, to 1922 as MP. In 1936 he was created a Baronet, of Eyeworth in the County of Bedford. His contributions to national-level politics were: a written question in 1919, as to whether a cash-on-delivery system of household goods would be permitted in law, to which the reply was no; and two speeches, in April 1920, a mention of a clause in the German Empire constitution which would allow Austrians to sit in the Reichstag; and in February the long opening address in his uniform with one ten-word-interruption.
Personal legacy
He died at 26 Hill Street, Mayfair, London on 19 December 1938, aged 68, ending the baronetcy. Lady Peel, who was 19 years younger than her husband, died in January 1981, latterly of Barton Hall, Barton Turf, aged 91. His probate was resworn in 1939, at.; his widow's was sworn in 1981, at.
Works
Trooper 8008 - embodies his experiences in the Boer War.
