[3] The Magdalen crew was chosen to represent Great Britain rowing at the 1908 Summer Olympics, and Cudmore was the bow-man in the four with John Somers-Smith, Angus Gillan and Duncan Mackinnon.

Cudmore studied law at the Inner Temple and was called to the bar in 1910, then returned to Australia and formed a partnership with Stanley Murray.

[2] An officer in the Royal Field Artillery Special Reserve, Cudmore commanded a battery in France during the First World War.

Cudmore was an outspoken opponent of Thomas Playford IV's nationalization of the Adelaide Electric Company, which was owned by Murray and constituted a major draw on a treasury already at its limits.

He advocated harsher sentences for child abusers, a parliamentary public accounts committee, relaxed gaming regulation, extended liquor trading hours, and the establishment of a well-regulated red-light district, often working with the Labor government to achieve his aims from opposition.