Rowland Thomas Baring, second Earl of Cromer, was the son of Evelyn Baring (1841-1917) first Earl of Cromer and Ethel Stanley (d.1898). In 1900 Baring followed in the footsteps of his father and went to work as a diplomat, having spent time learning foreign languages. In 1906 he joined the Foreign Office, becoming private secretary to the permanent under-secretaries of state between 1907 and 1911.

Baring left the Foreign Office and joined Barings Brothers as a Managing Director. With the onset of the First World War, he joined the Grenadier Guards, and served in the special reserve until 1920. He spent 1915 and 1916 serving the Viceroy of India as an aide-de-camp, before taking up an appointment as private secretary and equerry to King George V in 1916. In 1922, he was appointed Lord Chamberlain, a post he held until 1938.

Cromer had an active involvement in medical charities and received many British and foreign honours during his lifetime.