Phil May (1864-1903). An English illustrator, born in Leeds. He left Leeds for London as a mere lad, and spent several years with a company of wandering actors. Afterwards he attracted attention by his drawings in Saint Stephen's Review, and in 1884 went to Australia, where he worked on the Sydney Bulletin until 1889. In 1891 he published The Parson and the Painter, a series of remarkable sketches. Later his work was produced in the Daily Graphic; Black and White; the Graphic, for which he traveled in America; and the Sketch; and in 1895 he took Du Maurier's place on the staff of Punch. By the elimination of every unnecessary line, by a felicitous composition, a high technical excellence in the use of light and shade, and the keenest observation and unflagging humor, May holds a place among celebrated English caricaturists. His specialty is East London, and the types he made famous are the frequenters of the race-course, the prize-ring, and the stage, and the 'gutter-snipes,' the children of the slums. Phil May's Gutter-Snipes (1890), a collection of drawings, contains much of his best work. In these his talent is at its ripest, and the quality of sympathy and kindliness, never lacking in his conception, is especially prominent. Other publications bv him are Phil May's Annual from 1892, and Phil May's Sketch Book (1897, 50 cartoons) .
