Henry Stephens May was born in Liskeard, Cornwall, on December 22, 1846 and grew up in a small cottage in Barn Street.

His father was a ‘Sawyer’; his mother died when Richard was only nine years old. In 1851, as well as his parents, there were seven siblings living in the cottage ranging in age from six up to 20, and still room was found for a ‘Lodger’, 19 year old Francis Quiller, a ‘Wool Sorter’ at Lamellion Mill.

As a young man Henry emigrated to Canada and joined five others to form the ‘Huntsville Syndicate’; they purchased 40 acres of undeveloped land the southern bank of the Wabi River in Ontario. As the township began to grow Henry built the first hardware store in the area and, in 1894, the ‘Syndicate’ decided to name the area Liskeard, after his birthplace in Cornwall. The area north of the Wabi River was also developing rapidly, there the name of Thorneloe was adopted and included May Street named after Henry. After much discussion and ‘a great deal of agitation’ the whole area was incorporated with the name of New Liskeard in 1903.

Henry married Lucinda Bertch on October 10, 1883, they had two children: a son, Ralph, who died age 51 when he fell off a fishing boat and drowned, and a daughter Irene, she married a ‘Bank Manager’, who died of ‘Heart Failure’ aged only 32. After many years as a councillor, and serving a term as mayor, Henry lived until the age of 82 and in his obituary in the ‘New Liskeard Speaker’ of June 1928 was remembered as ‘one of our pioneer merchants’.

By Brian Oldham

Museum volunteer and Bard of the Gorsedh Kernow