Ord graduated from Clifton in 1914 aged 17, and he went to study at the Royal College of Music on an organ scholarship as a pupil of Walter Parratt.

His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I and Ord went to serve as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps.

[1] In 1929, Boris Ord took the position of Organist of King's College, Cambridge, a role which placed him in charge of the chapel choir.

[2] Ord became well acquainted with the Dean of the college, Rev Eric Milner-White, who originally devised the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols in 1918.

[7][8] After the outbreak of World War II, both Ord and Willcocks left King's to join the armed forces.

[10] Ord is known for his only published piece of music, a choral setting of a medieval text, Adam lay ybounden, written in 1957.