[5] In 1939, following his graduation from the University of Oxford, Luyt joined the colonial service and was assigned to a minor posting in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).

In 1940, as a sergeant, Luyt commanded a guerrilla company behind Italian lines in Ethiopia in the East African campaign.

Luyt entered British Guiana at a time with widespread violence between Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese groups (and their associated political parties, the PNC and the PPP).

The objective of the British and American interests in the area was to prevent Indo-Guyanese Cheddi Jagan, perceived to be a communist, from becoming elected as the first head of government of an independent Guyana.

In the lead-up to the 1964 elections, the CIA interfered heavily in Guyanese politics, with the cooperation of British authorities including Luyt.

[7] Just three days before Luyt's appointment, on 4 March, a bomb went off at Tain, killing two people, and a strike was ongoing called by the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers' Union.

These individuals, imprisoned at Mazaruni Prison, would not be released until 1966, and caused great friction between Luyt's administration and Cheddi Jagan.

The governor also passed firearm ordinances, granted immunity to British troops,[9] and restricted some publications against the PNC with a punishment of six months in prison for unauthorised possession.

[13] On 2 December, just days before the elections, Luyt announced that he would not necessarily appoint the leader of the party with the largest number of votes as premier.

[15] Jagan refused to resign and Luyt was forced to remove him,[16] with a constitutional change necessary to do so because the PPP had not technically lost the elections, still being the party with the largest independent share of parliamentary seats.

In 2009, the Sir Richard Luyt Memorial Scholarship was renamed to become a part of the Kerry Capstick-Dale student leadership awards.