Lumley followed his father into the military, passing out from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 11th Hussars on 26 January 1916,[2] and was promoted to lieutenant on 26 July 1917.[3] He served in France during World War I. He was demobilised on 3 June 1919, with the rank of lieutenant,[4] but retained a reserve lieutenant's commission in the 11th Hussars, as well as being attached to the Yorkshire Dragoons.[5] From 1920 to 1921, he was attached to an Officer Training Corps (OTC) University Contingent, with the local rank of captain.[6]
Outside politics, the Earl had a keen interest in Asian and African studies. He presided over the Interdepartmental Commission of Enquiry on Oriental, Slavonic, East European and African Studies set up after the Second World War to consider how Britain might maintain and increase the links it had built up during the war in the geographical areas under the Commission's consideration. The Commission's report, presented in 1947, argued for considerable strengthening of university departments' capacity to carry out research and training related to these areas, and for significant funds to be made available to this end. However, after five years of strong growth following the presentation of the Scarbrough report, in 1952 much of the funding was withdrawn.[11]
^Report of the Sub-Committee on Oriental, Slavonic, East European and African Studies (Hayter Report). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1961. pp. 6–40.