Reginald Le May was a British diplomat and East Asian scholar. He was the second son of hop merchant Herbert Le May and Harriet Jane Le May (née Newman), and was born on 6 January 1885 at Wadhurst, Suffolk. Le May was educated at Framlingham College from 1898-1902, during which time he won the school's Modern Languages prize, and he subsequently went on to study at King's College, London.

Le May worked as confidential clerk to the British Consulate-General in Zurich, and later served as Assistant Master at Framlingham College. In September 1906 he came eleventh in the examination for student interpretership in His Britanic Majesty's Far East Consular Service, joining the British Legation in Bangkok in February 1908. Le May served as Vice-Consul in Chiang Mai, in what was then known as Siam, from March 1913, before transferring to a similar post in Lampang, and finally Bangkok in 1917. He served as Acting Consul-General in Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 1920, and after resigning from his post became Economic Advisor to the Siamese Government from 1922-1933. In 1934 Le May joined Pembroke as a research student, matriculating in the Michelmas Term.

Le May's extensive time in Thailand led to a lifelong appreciation for East Asian art and culture, and he authored a number of works on the subjects. A philatelist, in 1920 he published 'The Standard Catalogue of Thai Stamps', and in 1925 his own collection of Thai stamps was prepared for exhibition and donated to the National Museum, Bangkok upon the death of King Rama VI in 1925. Subsequent publications included 'Siamese Tales, Old and New' (1930); 'An Asian Arcady: the Land and Peoples of Northern Siam' (1936); 'Buddhist Art in Siam' (1938) and 'The Culture of South-East Asia' (1954).

Le May was a senior figure in the Siam Society (Thailand) for many years. He was intrumental in raising funds for the building of a permanent home for the Society in 1928, in addition to obtaining a site for the premises and enlisting the services of a leading Bangkok architect. Le May died on 22 January 1972 at the age of 87.