From 1892 to 1902, Duckworth acted as secretary (without pay) to the
philanthropist Charles Booth, and then from August 1902 to 1905 as private secretary to
Austen Chamberlain, at a time when Chamberlain was in the
Cabinet, first as
Postmaster General and then as
Chancellor of the Exchequer. From 1906 to 1908, Duckworth was secretary to the Treasury Committee on War Risks of Shipping, and from 1908 to 1933 Secretary to the
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments. During the
First World War he was appointed deputy Director of Munitions Finance, serving from 1915 to 1918, and, in 1918, as Controller of Labour Finance. In 1919, he became a Companion of the
Order of the Bath. After the war, from 1919 to 1920, he was Controller of Munitions Housing Schemes. In 1924, he became a Trustee and first Chairman of the Irish Land Trust, which had the aim of providing houses and land for ex-service men in Ireland. In 1927, he was
knighted and the same year served as a member of the Royal Commission on London Squares and Open Spaces. The next year, 1928, he was on the Advisory Committee on the New Survey of London Life and Labour. ==Private life==