Cunliffe became a director of the Bank of England in 1895 and its governor in 1913, working under Chancellors of the Exchequer David Lloyd George, Reginald McKenna, and Bonar Law. Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, he calmed the money markets by preventing both the suspension of payments in gold and the removal of foreign securities. He was created Baron Cunliffe, of Headley in the County of Surrey, in December 1914. In April–May 1917, he was a member of the Balfour Mission to promote co-operation with the United States during the war.