He followed his father into the Royal Engineers, graduating from the Royal Military Academy in 1927.
He was promoted to lieutenant in 1930, to captain in 1938, to major in 1944 and to lieutenant colonel in 1950.
He retired from the army on 21 May 1959.During his service, he was posted to India, where he played two first-class cricket matches for the Europeans cricket team.
In January 1936, he scored 16 and 4 during an innings loss to the Indians, while in the corresponding fixture the following year, he scored 2 and 21.
His sister, Myrtle Maclagan, played fourteen times for the England women's cricket team, scoring over 1,000 runs and taking more than 50 wickets.