Person:William May (71)

Childhood

William May was baptised on 25th July 1835 at Bradninch in Devon. He was the third of five children of a dairy farmer also named William May and his wife Susannah Greenslade. At the time of William's birth, the family lived at Downhead Farm, a remote farm in the parish of Bradninch. The family moved about the area quite a lot - never travelling far, but generally appearing in a different parish on almost every sighting.

By 1841, the family was living at Knowle in the parish of Cullompton. By 1851, William had left home and was working as a farm labourer at Cadeleigh.

Adulthood

On 28th February 1860, William married an Ann Hutchings. They married in her native parish of Crewkerne in Somerset - some distance from William's Devon roots. Presumably he had gone to work in Crewkerne and met her there. They did not stay long in Crewkerne: eleven months later their first child was born in Devonport.

In Devonport, the family lived at the Jolly Bacchus public house at 30 Pembroke Street, with William being the publican. They stayed there for a couple of years, with their daughter Kate's baptism record from 1863 also giving 30 Pembroke Street as their home. By the time their next child, Frank, was baptised in 1865, the family had moved again, this time to the Portland Inn public house at 29 James Street, Plymouth. (A photograph of the Portland Inn taken in about 1956 is available here: Plymouth Reconstruction.) They stayed at the Portland Inn for at least eight years, with William still being listed as the publican in trade directories from 1873.

By 1881 the family had moved again, but this time just around the corner from James Street, to the neighbouring John Street. Here they lived at 10 John Street, where William was described variously as a beer retailer and a shopkeeper. 10 John Street was later renumbered 19 John Street.

William's mother Susannah died in 1878, after which his father initially went to live with William's sister Elizabeth, but following her death William senior came to live at 10 John Street with William. For a time, therefore, there were three William Mays living in the same house - father, son and grandson. William senior died in 1890.

William's son William later moved next door to 21 John Street, which had a row of cottages behind it called Pear Tree Cottages.

William later moved back to Devonport, where his wife Ann died in 1910. William died three years later in 1913, having outlived five of his nine children (one of whom we do not know the name of: their existence is only known about from the 1911 census in which William said he had had nine children, five of whom were still living. William's eldest son William died between the 1911 census and his father's death in 1913).

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish Registers of Bradninch, Devon. (Exeter: Devon Record Office), Primary quality.

   Baptised: 26 Jul 1835
   Name: William
   Parents: William & Susan
   Surname: May
   Abode: Downhead Farm
   Father's occupation: Husbandman

2. ↑ General Register Office. The National Archives (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) HO 107/1-1465 Census Returns: 1841 Census Schedules, Class HO107; Piece 225; Book 6; Folio 7; Page 9, 6 Jun 1841, Primary quality.

   Address: Knowle, Cullompton, Devon
   William May, male, 25 [1811-16], Ag lab, b. in county
   Susan May, female, 35 [1801-06], b. in county
   Ann May, female, 7 [1833/4], b. in county
   William May, male, 5 [1835/6], b. in county
   Elizabeth May, female, 3 [1837/8], b. in county

3. ↑ General Register Office. The National Archives (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) HO 107/1466-2531 Census Returns: 1851 Census Schedules, Class HO107; Piece 1888; Folio 19; Page 3, 30 Mar 1851, Primary quality.

   Address	Shot Ash, Bickleigh, Devon
   Name	Relation to head	Marital status	Sex	Age	Implied birthdate	Occupation	Birthplace
   Robert Pitt	head	married	male	50	1800/1	Farmer 160 acres 2 labours	Barnstaple, Devon
   Mary Pitt	wife	married	female	59	1791/2	Farmer wife	Silverton
   Elizabeth Brown	visitor	married	female	79	1771/2	Farmer wife	Winkley, Devon
   Mary Ann Dunn	servant	unmarried	female	21	1829/30	House Servant	Cullompton
   Richard Carpenter	servant	unmarried	male	26	1824/5	Farmer Labourer	Cullompton
   William May	servant	unmarried	male	14	1836/7	Farmer Labourer	Cullompton
   John Quant	servant	unmarried	male	15	1835/6	Farmer Labourer	Bradninch
   John Allen	servant	unmarried	male	11	1839/40	Farmer Labourer	Bickleigh

4. ↑ General Register Office. The National Archives (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) RG 9 General Register Office: 1861 Census Schedules, Class RG9; Piece 1450; Folio 11; Page 16, 7 Apr 1861, Primary quality.

   Address: The Jolly Bacchus, 30 Pembroke Street, Devonport, Stoke Damerel, Devon
   William May, head, married, male, 25 [1835/6], Victualler, b. Collumpton, Devon
   [page RG9/1450/12/17]
   Ann May, wife, married, female, 26 [1834/5], b. Crewkerne, Somerset
   William May, son, male, 2 months [1861], b. Devonport, Devon
   John Deacon, lodger, unmarried, male, 39 [1821/2], Seaman R.N., b. Greenock, Scotland
   Samuel Walker, lodger, unmarried, male, 37 [1832/3], Seaman R.N., b. Stokenham, Devon

5. ↑ General Register Office. The National Archives (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) RG 10 General Register Office: 1871 Census Schedules, Class RG10; Piece 2116; Folio 56; Page 2, 2 Apr 1871, Primary quality.

   Address: 29 James Street, Plymouth, Devon
   William May, head, married, male, 34 [1836/7], Beer House Keeper, b. Collumpton, Devon
   Ann May, wife, married, female, 35 [1835/6], b. Crewkerne, Somerset
   William May, son, male, 10 [1860/1], Scholar, b. Stoke Damerel, Devon
   Frank May, son, male, 6 [1864/5], Scholar, b. Plymouth, Devon
   Maud May, daughter, female, 3 [1867/8], Scholar, b. Plymouth, Devon
   Elizabeth M. May, daughter, female, 1 [1869/70], b. Plymouth, Devon

6. ↑ General Register Office. Public Record Office (PRO) RG 11 General Register Office: 1881 Census Schedules. (The National Archives), Class RG11; Piece 2194; Folio 7; Page 19, 3 Apr 1881, Primary quality.

   Address: 10 John Street, Plymouth, Devon
   William May, head, married, male, 45 [1835/6], Publican & Hauler, b. Tiverton, Devon
   Ann May, wife, married, female, 45 [1835/6], Publican's Wife, b. Crewkerne, Somerset
   William May, son, unmarried, male, 20 [1860/1], Compositer Printer (unemployed), b. Devonport, Devon
   Frank May, son, male, 16 [1864/5], b. Plymouth, Devon, Imbecile
   Maud May, daughter, female, 13 [1867/8], Scholar, b. Plymouth, Devon
   Elizabeth M. May, daughter, female, 11 [1869/70], Scholar, b. Plymouth, Devon
   Annie May, daughter, female, 8 [1872/3], Scholar, b. Plymouth, Devon
   Hannah May, daughter, female, 6 [1874/5], Scholar, b. Plymouth, Devon
   Edmund Hutchings, father, widower, 70 [1810/1], Gardener, b. Crewkerne, Somerset

7. ↑ The Three Towns' Directory for Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse, 1873, accessed 24 Feb 2012, Primary quality.

   May William, Portland Inn, 29 James street

8. ↑ Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse: Private Residents' and Commercial Directory, 1888, accessed 24 Feb 2012, Primary quality.

   May Wm. beer retailer, 10 John st P[lymouth]

9. ↑ Plymouth and Devonport District Directory: A Private Residents' Directory of the Three Towns, A Commercial Directory of the Three Towns, 1896, accessed 24 Feb 2012, Primary quality.

   May William, shopkeeper, 10 John st P[lymouth]