Margery May (Booth) (1928-2000) came to St Anne’s as an Exhibitioner in 1947. In 1954 she became Lecturer in French, and in 1958 Tutor and Fellow. After her retirement she was Emeritus Fellow and then Senior Research Fellow. Her research areas were mediaeval French and particularly Provençal literature, and philology and history of the French language; her B.Litt. dissertation was a literary study of the 12th century author Raimbaut de Vacqueiras.
Students remember fondly her kindliness and humour, and her willingness to take trouble over both their academic progress and their personal and social development; a memoir in the Ship shows her mingling French literature with medical care and advice on wedding dress fabric.