 Between 1934 and 1942 he was a member of the London Stock Exchange.During the Second World War he rendered the government great service, notably as head of the British Petroleum Mission in Washington D.C., as principal assistant secretary in the Ministry of Supply and the Ministry of Aircraft Production and as personal assistant to the Deputy Prime Minister Clement Attlee.On 14 November 1945 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Piercy, of Burford in the County of Oxford.