Humphrey May

May was the fourth son of Richard May, Merchant Taylor of London. He matriculated from St John's College, Oxford on 25 October 1588, graduated B.A. on 3 March 1592, and became student of the Middle Temple in 1592. In February 1604, he was groom of the King's privy chamber.[1]

May was elected Member of Parliament for Beeralston at a by-election in 1605. In 1613 he was sent to Calais to prevent the Earl of Essex and Henry Howard fighting a duel.[2]

In 1614 he was elected MP for Westminster. He was elected MP for Lancaster in 1621. In 1624, he was elected MP for Lancaster and also for Leicester and chose to sit for Leicester. In 1625 he was elected MP for Lancaster and Leicester again, but this time chose to sit for Lancaster. He was elected MP for Leicester again in 1626 and 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.[3]

He held the office of Vice-Chamberlain of the Household and Master of the Rolls to King Charles I. He was also appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster[4]

May died at his house at St Martin-in-the-Fields in 1630, at the age of about 57, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

May married twice. He married firstly Jane Uvedale, sister of Sir William Uvedale, of Wickham, Hampshire, by whom he had two daughters and two sons – James of Coldrey and Sir Algernon of Greenwich – before Jane died giving birth to another son, Richard, in May 1615.

He married secondly, on 3 February 1616, at Bury St. Edmunds, Judith Pooley, daughter of Sir William Pooley, of Boxted, Suffolk, by whom he had several daughters and three sons, Charles (born 1619), Richard (1621–1644) and Baptist (1628–1698).

In 1660, after the English Civil War, Judith petitioned King Charles II for a share of her late husband's proceeds from the Court of Star Chamber.[5]

• Dictionary of National Biography, May, Sir Humphrey (1573–1630), statesman, by Gordon Goodwin. Published 1894.