Henry John May
1802 - 1894
Henry John May was born 21 April 1802, son of Thomas May (1765-1843) and his third wife Henrietta. née Stevens.
Henry married 20 September 1826 Eliza Wyatt from Rawreth Hall. They had 3 children
- Eliza Henrietta born 11 November 1827
- Maria Isabella born 15 October 1829
- Catherine Phyllis born 30 December 1830
Henry's wife Eliza died 1882.
Henry John May married a second time Emma Johnson born 1842, died 1901.
When Henry John May died 3 May 1894 he was living at Stone House, West Mersea, but also owned Alexandra Cottage in Colchester. In his will he left most of his estate to his grandson Willoughby John Bean, son of his daughter Eliza and her husband Alexander Bean.
His parents wanted Henry John to become a clergyman but he had other ideas. He went to various schools but did not settle. He eventually absconded, to work on a ship on the Thames, but his parents 'rescued' him and brought him back to Mersea. He helped his father, farming six to seven hundred acres, collecting rents of several cottages and local oyster layings.
In 1826 Henry married Eliza Wyatt and they came to live on Mersea, in Brick House Farm, where their first child was born. Henry John wanted to get on the sea and persuaded his father to let him have his oyster layings - and to give him Elm Cottage on Coast Road, where the next two children were born. In 1874 or 1875 he bought Stone House, and lived there till he died in 1894.
Henry John built up a trade in buying young oysters and bringing them to Mersea to fatten them in the creeks, and then selling them. He was not one of the local oystermen (they thought of him as a farmer) and had to find new markets, in parts of the country away from Mersea as well as overseas.
He had his own fleet of horses-drawn vans and sold oysters as far away as Doncaster.
For a while he hired vessels to bring in the oysters, but in 1831 he had a vessel built in Mersea - the ESSEX. She was put together by boatbuilder Thomas Withey on Stonehill Hard, with timber mostly from Mersea. The ESSEX traded widely, bringing in fruit from Spain for example, and also carrying salt, coal and of course oysters. He developed a trade in ice from Norway, bringing it to London where it was stored in large wells and sold. This is a story in itself - see ICE! - Henry John May .
[The ESSEX is recorded in the Colchester Registers - the details are in Appendix I below. She was not a large vessel to be trading so far afield - only 51'8" long when built, and described as a 'Tuck sterned smack']
The May family bought the title of Lord of the Manor of West Mersea in 1801.
The title was sold in 1871 to Mr Edward Hibbert [WMH_001 ].
The oil painting above was donated to Mersea Museum in 2025 by descendants of H.J. May and is on display in the Mersea Museum Resource Centre. It shows Henry John May in the uniform of Colchester Town Serjeant.
Appendix I Extract from Ships Registered at Colchester 1824 to 1835, with thanks to John Collins and Maritime Heritage East.
1831/14 Essex 56tOM tuck sterned smack. 51'8"x16'6"x8'7". Constructed 18/8/1831 by Thomas
Withey at West Mersea for Henry John May (mariner), West Mersea. (John Lee of
Tollesbury master). 24/7/1833 Mortgaged to Thomas Lee the elder (esquire) of West Mersea.
(9/5/1837 Edward Seaborn master). =>CK.1837/22.
1837/22 Essex 55-7tNM (817194tOM) tuck sterned smack. 58.6'x16.2'x8.3'. Constructed 1831 at West
Mersea. ex CK.1831/14. Lengthened. Owned by Henry John May (mariner) of West Mersea,
Colchester. (Masters:- Edmund Seaborn; 19/5/1838 James Oxford; 23/9/1838 William
Woodman; 3/5/1841 at Newcastle, William Rice). 14/8/1844 =>CK.1844/30.
1844/30 Essex 551086tNM tuck sterned smack. 62.7'x16.4'x8.3'. Constructed 8/1831 at West Mersea.
ex CK.1837/22. Owned by Henry John May of West Mersea (farmer), Colchester. (William
Rice master). 18__ (before 1855) Vessel and papers lost.
Read More
Henry John May 1802-1894 by Willoughby John Bean.
Ice! - Henry John May
Will of Henry John May of Stone House West Mersea 1802-1894
Obituary
Bean and May Families - more articles
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