Barry May, Chairman of The Richmond Society from 2018 to 2023, died on June 1 at the age of 80 after a valiant fight with cancer.
He was passionate about preserving and enhancing everything that contributes to the special character of Richmond and felt honoured to lead the Society during five years of change. The Society was re-invigorated with new Trustees, new Patrons and new ideas.
His other local interests included the Museum of Richmond where he was a Trustee, and Richmond Local History Society.
Born in Strawberry Hill, May was a lifelong resident of the borough in between assignments as a Reuters foreign correspondent to Beirut, Dubai where he was Gulf bureau chief, Johannesburg, Karachi, New York, Rawalpindi, Tehran and Washington where he covered The White House, State Department, Congress, Pentagon and US Supreme Court during the presidencies of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, whose attempted assassination in 1981 he reported. In London he was Reuters parliamentary lobby correspondent with a front row seat in the House of Commons press gallery during the premiership of Margaret Thatcher.
An early claim to fame came at the age of 19 when, as a reporter on The Richmond & Twickenham Times, May wrote the first published article about the Rolling Stones, an emerging rhythm ’n’ blues band who played a Sunday night gig at the Crawdaddy Club in the Station Hotel, Richmond, in 1963.
The son of a pianist, he had been writing an occasional jazz column in the weekly newspaper and went to see who was drawing the crowds.
The review brought the band to the attention of London’s thriving music scene and helped to propel them to global acclaim.
The Stones rolled on, and so did May’s life in journalism.