George May, 1st Baron May

George Ernest May, 1st Baron May KBE (20 June 1871-10 April 1946), known as Sir George May, 1st Baronet, from 1931 to 1945, was a British financial expert and public servant.

May was the younger son of William May, a grocer and wine merchant, of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, and his wife Julia Ann (née Mole), and was educated at Cranleigh School. At the age of 16 he joined the Prudential Assurance Company as a clerk. He was to remain with this firm until his retirement in 1931, and served as Secretary of the company from 1915 until 1931. May quickly made his mark as a financial expert and during the First World War he was Manager of the American Dollars Securities Committee from 1915 to 1918. This committee was set up by the government to oversee the collection of securites held by British firms in the United States, and to make them available to the British government in aid of the war effort. For his services May was made a KBE in 1918.

He was created a Baronet, of the Eyot, in 1931, and the same year, after his retirement as Secretary of the Prudential Assurance Company, he was appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Snowden to oversee a committee on national expenditure. The committee recommended savings of £96 1/2 million for the next financial year, a figure that was supported by the Conservative and Liberal parties but largely criticized by the Labour Party, as much of the cuts were to come from unemployment benefits and national health insurance.

In early 1932 May was appointed Chairman of the Import Duties Advisory Committee by the new Chancellor, Neville Chamberlain. The committee oversaw the introduction and implementation of a general tariff over the next three years. As one of three members on the committee (along with Sir Sydney Chapman and Sir Allan Powell), May was specifically responsible for overseeing the reorganization of the British iron and steel industry. The committee's activities were largely suspended after the outbreak of the Second World War, but May remained Chairman until 1941. He had been further honoured in 1935 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron May, of Weybridge in the County of Surrey.

Lord May married Lily Julia, daughter of Gustavus Strauss, in 1903. They had two sons and a daughter. He died in April 1946 and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son John. Lady May died in 1955.

References

* Legg, L. G. Wickham; Williams, E. T (editors). "The Dictionary of National Biography: 1941-1950". Oxford University Press, 1959.
* Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). "Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage" (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
* [http://www.angeltowns.com/town/peerage/ Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page]