Studied at Edinburgh University, Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals. He started practice at Reading in 1822, and soon after was appointed Surgeon on the Staff of the Reading Dispensary. On the foundation of the Royal Berkshire Hospital he was elected the Senior of the Surgeons, the other two being F A Bulley and T B Maurice. He helped to found the Reading Pathological Society in 1841, and served as President. He supported Sir George Hastings in the formation of the British Medical Association, was a life-long member, and one of the last survivors among the founders. In partnership with his son, George May, junr (qv), Isaac Harrinson (qv), and T L Watford, MRCS, he had a good practice among the upper and middle classes. He was also Surgeon to the Reading Volunteer Corps, and a prominent horticulturist, his gardens and orchid houses being remarkable. He died at Sidmouth House, Reading, after a very brief illness on May 7th, 1884. His portrait was painted for the Reading Pathological Society in 1867, and is reproduced in Dr Jamieson Hurry's *History of the Reading Pathological Society*, 1909.