[2] During the First World War he served as Treasury controller of German, Austrian and Turkish banks confiscated during the conflict from 1914 to 1918 and as financial advisor to the Board of Trade in 1918.
[1] In January 1931 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Plender, of Sundridge in the County of Kent,[6] in recognition of his "...public services".
[7] He was also a member of the Committee on National Expenditure headed by Sir George May which published the May Report in July 1931.
Plender appeared as an expert witness for the defence in the 1931 Royal Mail Case, and under cross-examination stated that it was routine for firms "of the very highest repute" to use secret reserves in calculating profit without declaring it.
[1] In 1931 Lord Plender donated oak bookcases, furniture and panelling to furnish a library in Royal Grammar School, Newcastle.