Reginald Bousfield Lagden OBE MC seems to appear first on John’s radar in the photo taken at the time of the company cricket match against Shaw Wallace & Co. Clearly, being at the centre of the front row he was a person of some importance in McLeods, perhaps for his cricketing prowess (see his biography below), or perhaps for his standing within the company. John was obviously delighted to be congratulated by Lagden on his fielding, as shown in one of his letters home.

Certainly, when he was honoured with an OBE in 1937, he was a partner in McLeods. He was returning from London to Calcutta when he was killed in an air crash at Karachi in 1944.

A biography can be found here, highlighting a remarkable military, sporting and business career: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Lagden