At Cambridge, Eley, James MacNabb, Robert Morrison and Terence Sanders, who had rowed together at Eton, made up the coxless four that in 1922 at Henley won the Stewards' Challenge Cup as Eton Vikings and the Visitors' Challenge Cup as Third Trinity Boat Club.

Eley rowed for Cambridge in the Boat Race in 1924 and also won Silver Goblets at Henley in 1924 partnering James MacNabb.

[5][3] The coxless four crew won Steward's at Henley again in 1924 and went on to win the gold medal for Great Britain at the 1924 Summer Olympics.

[6] He was on the Central Agricultural Control Committee and received the O.B.E in the 1949 New Year Honours.

[7] Eley lived at East Bergholt Place, East Bergholt, Suffolk where he developed the impressive grounds and arboretum that his father had created into one of the finest private gardens in England.