Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
May Family
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
William May (1816 – 1903) a Quaker and London chemist with artistic talent, emigrated to South Australia with his family in 1839. On his journey back to England to find a wife, a storm destroyed the ship’s mast forcing the crew to dock at Launceston for lengthy repairs. May used the time to visit Kelvedon where he met Mary Cotton, whom he later married. He always believed he was ‘placed’ where he was meant to be. Initially the couple returned to South Australia but in 1874 moved to Tasmania where May’s orchard at Sandford had a reputation for high quality fruit. He served on the Friends School committee and edited Australian Friend. The eldest son, William Lewis, studied shells, acquiring a large collection from England and Tasmania. According to his obituary: ‘It was a wonderful sight to see him in his shell-room at his microscope, his work-worn hands executing the most exquisite drawings of minute shells’. Another brother, Alfred, made beautiful paintings of birds.
Dictionary of Australian Quaker Biography; Nancie Hewitt, A Brief History of Friends in Tasmania: Some Notes and Anecdotes.