Thomas Erskine May, 1st Baron Farnborough, (8 February 1815 – 17 May 1886) was a British

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these prin ...

theorist and Clerk of the House of Commons. His seminal work, ''A Treatise upon the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament'' (first published in 1844) has become known as '' Erskine May: Parliamentary Practice'' or simply ''Erskine May'': this

parliamentary authority A parliamentary authority is a book of rules for conducting business (parliamentary procedure) in deliberative assemblies. Several different books have been used by legislative assemblies and by organizations' deliberative bodies. Application to o ...

(book of procedural rules) is currently in its 25th revised edition (2019) and is informally considered part of the constitution of the United Kingdom. Following his retirement as Clerk of the House of Commons in May 1886, May was created " Baron Farnborough, of Farnborough, in the

county of Southampton Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire is ...

" just a week before his death. Since he left no heirs, the barony became extinct, making it the second-shortest-lived peerage in British history.

Biography

Thomas Erskine May was born in

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisat ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, on 8 February 1815. He was christened on 21 September 1815 at

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

with his parents being registered as Thomas and Sarah May.Parish register printouts of Westminster, London, England (Saint Martin in the Fields), christenings, 1813–1837. He was educated at Bedford School.1881 Census: "Name: May, Thomas E. Age: 66. Relation: Head. Spouse's name: Lousia J. Gender: Male. Where born: Highgate, Middlesex, England. Civil parish: St Margaret. County/Island: London. Country: England. Street Address: Palace of Westminster. Condition as to marriage: Married. Occupation: K.C.B. Clerk Of The House Of Commons. Registration district: St George Hanover Square. Sub-registration district: St Margaret Westminster. Enumeration district: 1." Source:

The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...

, class RG11, piece 117, folio 18, page 30. May began his parliamentary service in 1831, at the age of 16, as Assistant Librarian in the House of Commons Library. He was admitted to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

on 20 June 1834 and called to the bar on 4 May 1838. May married Johanna Laughton, of Fareham, on 27 August 1839. May became examiner of petitions for private bills in 1846 and from 1847 to 1856 was Taxing Master for both Houses of Parliament. In 1856 he became Clerk Assistant of the House of Commons. May was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) on 16 May 1860 and promoted to Knight Commander (KCB) on 6 July 1866. On 16 February 1871, he was appointed Clerk of the House of Commons by letters patent.The formal appointment, as Under Clerk of the Parliaments, was officially announced on 2 February. In 1873, he was elected a

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher ca ...

of the

and awarded an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law by the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 1874. In 1880, he was made a Reader of the Middle Temple and sworn of the Privy Council in 1884. On 10 May 1886, shortly after his retirement as Clerk of the House of Commons, May was created " Baron Farnborough, of Farnborough, in the

". This appears to contradic
tertiary sources
which claim that the peerage was created a day later, on 11 May 1886. He died just a week later on 17 May 1886.Death certificate: "Name: May, Thomas Erskine (Lord Farnborough). Age at Death: 71. District: St George Hanover Square. County: London, Middlesex."

General Register Office General Register Office or General Registry Office (GRO) is the name given to the civil registry in the United Kingdom, many other Commonwealth nations and Ireland. The GRO is the government agency responsible for the recording of vital recor ...

, England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, April–June 1886, volume 1a, page 305. Since he left no heirs, the barony became extinct, making it the second-shortest-lived peerage in British history, after the Barony of Leighton.

Sir William McKay Sir William Robert McKay, KCB, (born 18 April 1939), is a British administrator. He was Clerk of the House of Commons between 1998 and 2002, and was appointed in 2012 to chair the Commission on the consequences of devolution for the House of C ...

, who edited Erskine May's private journal, has suggested that May was possibly an unacknowledged son or grandson of The 1st Baron Erskine.

Notable works

May's most famous work, ''A Treatise upon the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament'' (now popularly known as '' Erskine May: Parliamentary Practice'' or simply ''Erskine May''), was first published in 1844. The book is currently in its 25th edition (2019). It is informally considered part of the

constitution of the United Kingdom The constitution of the United Kingdom or British constitution comprises the written and unwritten arrangements that establish the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a political body. Unlike in most countries, no attemp ...

. The guide is authoritative in many Commonwealth nations, often with strong influence on constitutional convention. Another notable work is ''The Constitutional History of England since the Accession of

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, 1760–1860'' (). May's work was rejected by later historians, such as

Herbert Butterfield Sir Herbert Butterfield (7 October 1900 – 20 July 1979) was an English historian and philosopher of history, who was Regius Professor of Modern History and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is remembered chiefly for a shor ...

who wrote, "Erskine May must be a good example of the way in which an historian may fall into error through an excess of brilliance. His capacity for synthesis, and his ability to dovetail the various parts of the evidence ... carried him into a more profound and complicated elaboration of error than some of his more pedestrian predecessors ... he inserted a doctrinal element into his history which, granted his original aberrations, was calculated to project the lines of his error, carrying his work still further from centrality or truth."

References

External links

* *
Parliamentary Archives, Papers of Thomas Erskine May (1815-1886), Baron Farnborough
{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Erskine 1815 births 1886 deaths English constitutionalists Farnborough, Erskine May, 1st Baron Clerks of the House of Commons Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People from Highgate People educated at Bedford School Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria