May Louisa Tivey was born on 10 May 1904 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, and was christened on 8 January 1905. She was the second of seven children, and the eldest daughter. She grew up with her parents, Charles Ascot Tivey and Louisa Blunt, and later joined by her paternal grandmother, Lucretia Tivey (nee Brown), in Russell Road, Walton-on-Thames.
May never married and remained with her parents. She died in May 1966 aged 61. She was survived by her mother.