On retirement from the ICS in 1901, he joined the India Office in Whitehall as Secretary of the Revenue, Statistics and Commerce Department. On the death of Sir Richmond Ritchie in 1912, he became the permanent under-secretary, the professional head of the India Office, continuing to occupy the post until his retirement in 1919. Although he reached the usual retirement age of 65 in June 1914, he was granted an extension, which was extended still further after the outbreak of the First World War, in which his long experience of Indian administration was invaluable.