He completed his degree in history at London University and graduated with second class honours.

For his masters Plucknett's speciality was the fifteenth-century council; he would later go on to write his PhD thesis on Statutes and their Interpretation in the First Half of the Fourteenth Century.

He received his PhD from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and studied under the tutorship of Harold Hazeltine.

[2] With Plucknett's PhD came an LLB degree, which helped him get into Harvard Law School.

"[2] Plucknett officially retired from teaching in 1963 due to poor health and died at his home in Crescent Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 on 14 February 1965.