Edward John May [also known as E.J. May] was born in Clapham, Middlesex [now London], England on 7 July 1853. He was articled to Decimus Burton (1800-1880) in 1869. He also attended the Architectural Association Schools and the Royal Academy Schools in London. He was employed in the offices Henry Marley Burton (?-1880); Robert Edgar (1837?-1878); Charles Henry Money Mileham (1837-1917) & Kennedy; Robert Withers (1823?-1894); William Eden Nesfield (1835-1888); Richard Norman Shaw (1831-1912); and Sir Robert William Edis (1839-1927), before establishing his own independent practice in Bedford Park,. London in 1880.
A photograph of a cottage at Chislehurst, Kent designed by May is illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1907 (p.36); a photograph and plan of 'Bretanby' at Chislehurst, Kent designed by May are illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1910 (p.56); a photograph of the staircase landing at Chislehurst, Kent, designed by May is illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1914 (p.35); a photograph of the dining room fireplace at 'Lyneham', Chislehurst is illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1915 (p.89); and two photographs showing the drawing room and first-floor landing of a house at Chislehurst in Kent, designed by May are illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Applied Art' 1921 (p.63).
Houses in Rotherfield, Sussex, near Godalming in Surrey, Chislehurst in Kent and Hindhead in Surrey, designed by May are illustrated in 'The Modern Home: A Book of British Domestic Architecture for Moderate Incomes' by W.H. Bidlake, M.A. Halsey-Ricardo and John Cash (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1906 opposite p.32, and pp.63, 93, 96).
May was architect to the Church of England Waifs and Strays Society and architect and surveyor to the Governesses Benevolent Institution. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1881 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1887. He became a member of the Art Workers Guild in 1888. He was also a member of the Architectural Association from 1870 to 1938. May exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery and the Royal Academy in London, the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh between 1881 and 1929. May died in Chislehurst, Kent on 16 [or 17 - sources differ] March 1941.
Architectural projects by May included 1 The Avenue, Bedford Park (1877); Club House, Bedford Park (1879); The Vicarage, Bedford Park (1881) ; 15-33 Queen Anne's Grove, Bedford Park (1882); 24-28 Queen Anne's Grove, Bedford Park (1882); 1 Newton Grove, Bedford Park (1882); Master's House, The School, Derby (1882); 15-25 Queen Anne's Grove, London (1883); New Hotel Bush Hill Park, Enfield, London (1883); 3-4 Gainsborough Gardens, Hampstead, London (1883); House for Dr Hogg, Priory Gardens, Bedford Park, London (1883); Swarland Hall, Northumberland (1884); Stables, Swarland Hall[ (1884); 5 The Orchard, Bedford Park (1884); St Margaret's Terrace, Cromer, Norfolk (1884-85); Club Room, Bedford Park (1885); House in Wimbledon, London (1885); Herne's Close, Overstrand Road, Cromer, Norfolk (1886); House at Elstree, Hertfordshire (1887); 2 The Grange, Wimbledon, London (1889); Folkton Manor House, Scarborough, Yorkshire (1889); Barnsdale Hall, near Oakham, Rutland (1890); House in Hampstead, London (1891); Kirklevington Grange, Stockton on Tees (1892); a house in Connecticut (1892); Barnsdale Hall, near Oakham, Rutland (1892); West Lodge, Wimbledon, London (1894); Jardine Hall, Drumfrieshire, Scotland (1894-98);The Croft, Hindhead, Surrey (1895); Houses at Gainsborough Gardens, Hampstead, London (1895); Stables at Shaw Hill, Wiltshire (1895); alterations to Saxby's St Paul's Cray Road, Chislehurst, Kent (1898); Homeside, 4 South Side, Wmbledon, London (1900); Hilders, Hindhead Road, Haselmere, Surrey (1900-05); 10 Palace Green, London (1900-05); Norman Cottage, Morley Road, Chislehurst, Kent (1901); 165-169 Lower Camden, Chislehurst (1904); New Entrance Lodges, Toddington, Gloucestershire (1904); Ballindune, Weydown Road, Haslemere, Surrey (1905); alterations to Saxby's St Paul's Cray Road, Chislehurst, Kent (1906-07); Dunoran, Park Farm Road, Bickley, London (1907); 1, 2 and 4 Shepherd's Green, Chislehurst, Kent (1907); 3 and 5 Shepherd's Green, Chislehurst, Kent (1908); Three Firs, Hindhead, Surrey (1908); House in Webbington, Somerset (1908); Western Motor Works, Perry Street, Chislehurst, Kent (1909); The Homestead, 9 Holbrook Lane, Chislehurst, Kent (1909); Waifs and Strays' Home, Pyford, Surrey (1910); Sweet Meadows, Mead Road, Chislehurst, Kent (1910); Working Men's Club, 76 Green Lane, Chislehurst (1910; 1- 5 Beaverwood Road, Chislehurst, Kent (1910); White Riggs, Mead Road, Chislehurst, Kent (1910); House in Boyne Park, Tunbridge Wells, Kent (1911); Lych Gate at Church of the Annunciation, High Street, Chislehurst, Kent (1911); house in Toddington, Gloucestershire (1911); 48 Parkway, Gidea Park, Essex (1911); 48 Parkway, Gidea Park, Essex (1911); Oak House, Holbrook Lane, Chislehurst, Kent (1912); Lyneham, Heathfield Lane, Chislehurst, Kent (1913); Millfield, Cricketground Road, Chislehurst, Kent; Red Hatch, 55 Elmstead Lane, Chislehurst, Kent (1915-20); Elmstead Spinney, no 5 Wood Drive, Chislehurst, Kent (c.1920); Mainstay Lodge, Holbrook Lane, Chislehurst, Kent (1922); St Anne's Cottage, no 6 The Meadow, Chislehurst, Kent (1924); Ada Lewis Governesses' Homes, Southend Road, Beckenham, Kent (1925); Harwood, 41 Holbrook Lane, Chislehurst, Kent (1926); Lockers, Holbrook Lane, Chislehurst, Kent (1927); Archway Cottages, Scadbury Estate, Chislehurst, Kent (1928); Tower oft Church of the Annunciation, High Street, Chislehurst, Kent (1930); and Exbourne, Wilderness Road, Chislehurst, Kent (1930).
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Gray, A. Stuart. Edwardian architecture: a biographical dictionary. London: Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd., 1985
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 160, 28 May 1941 p. 323
‘Obituary’. RIBA Journal vol. 48, 1941 p.124
‘Obituary’. Architect’s Journal May 1941 p. 124