Sir William Henry May was a Royal Navy Officer. As a junior officer he took part an expedition to rescue Commander Albert Markham who had got into difficulty trying to reach the North Pole via Smith Sound, the sea passage between Greenland and Canada's northernmost island, Ellesmere Island. May went on to higher command and served as Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy before becoming Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet. He held the office of Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel and in that capacity threatened to resign if the Liberal Government cut the naval estimates any further. Later he became Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet, in which capacity he encouraged innovative ways of organising his huge fleet including the deployment of cruising formations, the use of fast squadrons and tactical command at squadron level rather than fleet level, and then became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth. He served in the First World War purely in an administrative capacity.
Early career
Born the son of Job William Seaburne May and Anne Jane May, May was educated at the Royal Institution School in Liverpool and Eastman's Royal Naval Academy and then joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in the training ship on 9 June 1863. He joined the first-rate, flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet in 1864 and, having been promoted to midshipman, he transferred to the frigate in 1867. Promoted to sub-lieutenant on 29 March 1869, he joined the battleship in the Channel Fleet and then transferred to the Royal Yacht in June 1871. Promoted to lieutenant on 7 September 1871, he briefly rejoined HMS Hercules in April 1872 before attending the gunnery school at Portsmouth. He joined the frigate at Sheerness in September 1874 and then became navigating officer in the sloop on her Arctic expedition of 1875 and 1876. He took part in an expedition to rescue Commander Albert Markham, who had got into difficulty trying to reach the North Pole via Smith Sound, the sea passage between Greenland and Canada's northernmost island, Ellesmere Island. May joined the torpedo school in 1877, where he was involved in the development of the Whitehead torpedo, and then transferred to the frigate in the Mediterranean Fleet in 1880. Promoted to commander on 9 March 1881, he became commanding officer of the torpedo ram later that year and then returned to the Royal Yacht HMY Victoria and Albert II, this time as second in command, in 1884. Promoted to captain on 9 May 1887, he became flag captain to the Commander-in-Chief, China Station in the armored cruiser in March 1888. En route to the Far East he took possession of Christmas Island following the recent discovery of phosphate deposits there. He then served successively as naval attaché in Berlin, naval attaché in Paris and naval attaché in Saint Petersburg. He went on to be Assistant Director of Torpedoes at the Admiralty in 1893, flag captain to the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet in the battleship in January 1895 and flag captain to the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth in early 1897. In the latter role he acted as chief of staff for the Diamond Jubilee Review of the Fleet at Spithead in June 1897 for which he was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order later that year. He then became commanding officer of the gunnery school HMS Excellent later that year and was appointed a naval aide-de-camp to the Queen on 7 May 1899.
