Raynor was educated at Nottingham High School before studying Chemistry at Keble College, Oxford, obtaining a first-class degree in 1936.
[2] He then worked as a research assistant at the University of Oxford, working with William Hume-Rothery, and carried out metallurgical research for the Ministry of Supply and Ministry of Aircraft Production during the Second World War.
[3] In 1945, he moved to the University of Birmingham as a research fellow, with the course that he taught in structural and theoretical metallurgy becoming "the forerunner for the development of metallurgical teaching all over the world".
He also served the university as dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering and then Deputy Principal for four years.
[2] The Times said of him that his research gained "international acclaim" and that he had "played a leading part in the development of the chemistry of alloy phases", with his contributions to the subject "likely to be included in the teaching of metallurgy and to be of practical value for many decades.