He was educated at Sir William Turner's Grammar School, Coatham and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read English.
[1] After leaving the Army he joined the Civil Service, serving as Private Secretary to the Second Secretary to the Treasury Sir Henry Wilson Smith from 1948 to 1950, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rab Butler from 1953 to 1955, and also to Butler as Lord Privy Seal from 1955 to 1957.
He was Principal Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Reginald Maudling in 1964, continuing under James Callaghan until 1966, when he became an Under-Secretary to the Treasury.
In 1981 Margaret Thatcher abolished the Civil Service Department, effectively ending his career.
[4] On 15 February 1982 he was created a life peer as Baron Bancroft, of Coatham in the County of Cleveland,[5] and took his seat in the House of Lords.