Person:Robert May (18)

Early education at Rev. Thomas Waite's school; completed education in Germany; resided with father in Gothenburg, Sweden; returned to Greenwich about 1835; relocated at St. Heliers, Isle of Jersey; 1847 British Vice-Counsul at St. Malo in Brittany; 1852 Granville, Normandy; 1862 Prince Edward Island, Canada.

1. ↑ .

   Vol. 9, 1875-1880, p. 663
   Daughters Harriet & Emma;
   sons George, Thomas Waite, Harold, Robert & Alfred.
   Exors - Eldest son George, 2nd son Thomas Waite, eldest daughter Harriet & friend Frank Bear MD.
   Dated 5 Apr 1877. George to get house and grounds in Jersey.

2. ↑ England. National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations),1858 onwards. (Ancestry.com).

   The Will with a Codicil of Robert May late of Charlotte Town, Prince Edward Island in the Dominion of Canada and of 3 Circus-street Greenwich in the County of Kent Esquire who died 30 December 1878 at 3 Circus-street was proved at the Principal Registry by George May of 8 Hamilton-terrace Hyde Vale, Greenwich, Gentleman, the Son, one of the Executors.

3.   Royal Bachelors Club Memebers 1769-1869
   0289. May, Georg Cooke, grosshandlare, f 415 , 1790- , Lancefield & May
   0415. May, Robert, handelsbetjänt, -<1838, (George Cooke May 289 o hh Harriet)
   
   The Royal Bachelors' Club
   On 19th November 1769 a group of twenty or so young men, all of them bachelors and many of them of English or Scots descent, met in Gothenburg and decided to form a private billiards club. The first signatory to the charter of foundation, which is dated 25th November 1769 was Thomas Erskine, whose portrait now hangs over the open fireplace in The Large Club Room. The Club's first chairman was not Erskine, however, but the merchant Johan Gustaf Forss. Erskine succeeded him in the following year, and "carried out the duties of his position for a period of eight years to the members' complete satisfaction".
4.   Letter written by Fred May, St. Elenors, P.E.I., 15 Sep 1930 -
   The following is apparently the account or brief history of his Father and Mother, written by our late uncle, Thomas Waite May, on the occasion of the unveiling of the Memorial Window in St. Paul's Church, Charlottetown, P.E.I., which window was provided for by the Will of our late Aunt, Harriet May.
   
   Robert May, one of the persons of the Memorial Window, was born at Greenwich, England, on 5th Novr. 1811. He was the son of George C. May, who, in early life, had an appointment on the Staff of the Management of Greenwich Hospital, the gift to the Nation, for the care of veterans of the Royal Navy, by King Charles the Second. The traditions of the family claim that George C. May was a direct descendant of Thomas May, the parliamentary secretary of the Long Parliament, who published in 1647 a History of this parliament and of the first years of the civil war between the parliament and Charles the First. A copy of that History is now in the hands of Thomas W. May, of this City (Charlottetown.), which (book) has apparently been handed down from father to son up to the present time.
   Robert May, the subject of the Memorial, was the only son of George C. May and obtained his early education at the Rev. Thos. Waite's school, who was assistant minister to the Rector of Greenwich, and he (Robert May) completed his education in Germany. Robert May afterwards went with his Father to Gothenburg, Sweden, where his father had established himself as a ship owner and timber merchant. They returned to Greenwich about 1835. A few years afterwards they went to St. Heliers, the Capital of the Island Jersey. From there, in 1843 he went to London and married Augusta, the second subject of this Memorial, a daughter of his former teacher, in Greenwich. He returned to Jersey after his marriage, and carried on a business as a timber merchant in conjunction with two local men named John and Thomas De la Taste, descendants of a French Huguenot family. In 1847 Robert May went to France where he became British Vice-Consul at St. Malo in Brittany. In 1852 he was transferred to Granville in Normandy, and remained there until he emigrated with all his family to Prince Edward Island in 1862. He visited England twice during the remainder of his life and died during his second visit, at Greenwich, in 1878.
   (Grandfather May is buried at Shooter's Hill, Greenwich.)