He also had three sisters, Hilda (Vice Principal of Somerville College, Oxford), Emilia (a poet), and Florence (who worked with Aurel Stein at the British Museum).
Emily Overend Lorimer (1881–1949) was a noted journalist, writer and lecturer in German philosophy at Somerville.
From 1903 to 1924 he was on secondment to the Indian Political Service, generally serving in the Persian Gulf, then being opened up to oil exploration.
He worked as a linguist with the languages of Iran and Pakistan, including Khowar, Shina, Bakhtiari, Wakhi and the Persian dialects of Kerman and Gabri.
Lorimer was awarded the Leverhulme Research Fellowship in 1933–1935 and in 1953 he became an honorary member of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London.