Thomas May was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

 from 1640 to 1642. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

.

May, of Rawmere, in Mid Lavant, Sussex, was a nephew of Sir Humphrey May

Humphrey May

Sir Humphrey May was an English politician. He was born the fourth son of Richard May, Merchant Taylor of London. He matriculated from St John's College, Oxford on 25th October 1588, graduated B.A. on 3rd March 1592 and became student of the Middle Temple in 1592...

 and grandson of Richard May rich Merchant Taylor of London.

In April 1640, May was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Midhurst

Midhurst (UK Parliament constituency)

Midhurst was a parliamentary borough in Sussex, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1311 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1885, when the constituency was abolished...

 in the Short Parliament

Short Parliament

The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....

. He was re-elected MP for Midhurst for the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

 in November 1640. On the outbreak of the Civil War, he put a garrison into Chichester

Chichester

Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...

and was disabled from sitting in parliament on 23 November 1642. His estates were subsequently sequestered and restored when he paid a fine of £900 for his delinquency in February 1647.