Philip William May (Phil) was born in Leeds and became assistant scene painter at the Grand Theatre there. He moved to London in about 1883 and joined Society magazine as caricaturist before leaving for Australia for the years 1885 to 1888 where he worked for The Sidney Bulletin. Returning to Europe, he studied in Paris for a while. He became an important black and white artist working for many of the main illustrated magazines of the late Victorian period. He was elected RI in 1897 and a memorial exhibition of his work was shown at the Leicester Galleries in 1903. Ref: J.Thorpe, Phil May. Harrap 1932.