| Authorised form of name | May; Charles (1800 - 1860); British civil engineer |
| Dates | 1800 - 1860 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Alton, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of birth | 4 May 1801 |
| Place of death | King's Road Clapham Park, South London, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of death | 10 August 1860 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial: 13 August 1860 |
| Occupation | Civil engineer |
| Research field | Mechanics |
| Chemistry |
| Astronomy |
| Civil engineering |
| Activity | Career: Articled to a Ollive Sims, chemist in Stockport; set up in business as a chemist and druggist in Ampthill, Bedfordshire; became a partner in Ransomes and May, Ipswich, Manufacturing Engineers (1836); under superitendence of George Biddell Airy (FRS 1836) constructed, with an accuracy never seen before, the great transit circle and the altazimuth, at the Greenwich Observatory; entered partnership with Mr. Hawksley (1851); Local Secretary to the British Association (1851).
Memberships:
FRAS; MICE |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 01/06/1854 |
| Age at election | 54 |
| Proposer | George Witt |
| John Gould |
| William Brockedon |
| Baden Powell |
| John George Appold |
| Richard Sheepshanks |
| Charles Brooke |
| John Percy |
| Henry Thomas De la Beche |
| John Frederick William Herschel |
| James Meadows Rendel |
| George Rennie |
| Joseph Locke |
| Isambard Kingdom Brunel |
| Joshua Field |
| William Cubitt |
| George Biddell Airy |
| Relationships | Parents: Samuel May, draper, and Ann May, both members of the Society of Friends.
Spouse: (m. 24 April 1824) Ann Simms (d. 12 December 1860), daughter of Ollive Sims.
Children: Robert Charles (5 April 1829); Walter (1831) |
| OtherInfo | Distinguished for having successfully carried out the ideas of the Astronomer Royal, in the construction of the Altazimuth and Meridional Circle Instruments, in the Royal Observatory.
Advocate of high-pressure steam and for the use of the 'steam jacket'.
Invented the method of compressing the wooden treenails used as fastenings for railway chairs, a system which has been all but universally adopted, on both British and foreign lines. |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll
Grace's Guide to British Industrial History, Charles May, [URL: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Charles_May; last accessed: 17/02/2026]
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc 1860-1862 vol 11 pp x-xi |
| Code | NA2178 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1854/10 | May, Charles: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| HS/9/447 | Letter, from [William Jackson] Hooker to [Charles] May, dated at Glasgow | 18 October 1833 |
| HS/12/314 | Letter, from Charles May to Sir John Herschel, dated at Great George St. | 29 November 1859 |
| HS/12/310 | Letter, from Charles May to Sir John Herschel, dated at Ampthill | 7 March 1833 |
| HS/12/313 | Letter, from Charles May to Sir John Herschel, dated at Great George St. | 23 July 1856 |
| HS/14/17 | Letter, from Sir William Pole to Cha[rle]s May, dated at 8 Great George St. | 2 July 1856 |
| HS/12/311 | Letter, from Charles May to Sir John Herschel, dated at Ampthill | 16 April 1833 |
| HS/12/312 | Letter, from Charles May to Sir John Herschel, dated at Ampthill | 25 October 1833 |
| HS/12/315 | Draft letter, from Sir John Herschel to Charles May, dated at 37 Tavistock Place, Russell Square | 5 December 1859 |
| HS/23/291 | Copy of draft letter, from Sir John Herschel to Charles May, dated at 37 Tavistock Place, Russell Square | 5 December 1859 |