See also
| Name: | Mary Matilda Lucille (May) Thomson |
| Sex: | Female |
| Father: | James Guy Thomson (1832-1890) |
| Mother: | Emma Lucille Frances Roe (1837-1876) |
| Birth | 25 Jul 1858 | Bolgart, Western Australia |
| Death | 1944 (age 85-86) | West Perth, Western Australia |
May Thomson, the eldest child of the Thomson household at Brookhampton, was a fearless and enthusiastic horsewoman, "probably the best female rider in the new colony". She was attractive and popular, having many suitors. When she was sixteen she became engaged to her first cousin, Samuel James Phillips. But then her mother, Emma, died suddenly and May was left to help in raising her many younger siblings. The marriage didn't take place, and May never married.
When James Guy Thomson remarried, May - who didn't get on with her stepmother - moved out and devoted her energies to developing a property called Queenwood near Lowden, W Australia. Later she moved back to the Blackwood area where she purchased a property which she called "Roebank" after her maternal grandfather, John Septimus Roe. May bred cattle and chickens on the property and also grew vegetables for sale. She died in 1944, aged 86.
Source: Fran Taylor, Bridgetown the Early Years, Book Two, pp. 200-202