Herbert Mayhew Lord was born on December 6, 1859 at Rockland, Maine, United States, the son of Sabin and Abbie (Swett) Lord. He was a descendant of Nathan Lord of Kent, England, who settled in Kittery, Maine, about the middle of the seventeenth century.
Lord received a common-school education. Later he entered Colby College, Waterville, Maine and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1884.
Lord started to work first as a teacher, but soon he entered newspaper work, writing editorials for papers at Rockland, Maine, Denver, Colorado, and Cardiff, Tennessee. His real career began in 1894, when he was appointed clerk of the committee on ways and means of the House of Representatives. This position he held until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, when he resigned in order to offer his services to the War Department. These services were accepted and on May 17, 1898, he was appointed major and paymaster of volunteers, in which capacity he served until honorably discharged in order to accept appointment as captain and paymaster in the regular army, February 5, 1901. He was promoted until he reached the rank of brigadier-general, July 15, 1919.
Upon the entrance of the United States into the World War he was made assistant to Major-General Goethals, with the title of director of finance. In this capacity he supervised the disbursement of more than $24, 000, 000, 000. Upon the reorganization of the army, July 1, 1920, he was made chief of finance and as such headed the newly created finance section of the War Department. On June 30, 1922, he was retired from active service, and on July 1, he succeeded General Charles G. Dawes as director of the budget, an office created by the Budget and Accounting Act of June 10, 1921. This position he filled until May 31, 1929, when he retired.
Lord, undoubtedly, was one of the ablest financial administrators ever connected with the United States government. As director of finance of the War Department his responsibilities were heavy and were performed with great ability. As director of the budget, he had great responsibilities, not only in respect to the handling of the current work of his office, but in determining, during the early years of the bureau's history, the principles and procedures to be followed. Though compelled to oppose the demands of the spending services of the government for money, he did it in a way to elicit universal respect for his courage, his fairness, and his skill in meeting conflicting considerations. In recognition of the ability with which he handled the many difficult and complicated problems connected with the financing of the war he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.
Lord's religious affiliations were with the Christian Science Church.
On September 9, 1885, Lord married at Thomaston, Maine, Annie Stuart, daughter of Shubael and Martha (Haskell) Waldo. He had three children, one of whom died in infancy.
