Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Flack , May , 1891-1954 , boarding house owner
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
May Matilda Hartle was born in Worcestershire on 16 September 1891. In 1901, at the age of 12, May moved to London. Her first job was working at a Chinese laundry on the Barking Road. In 1909, May married Archibald Flack and moved to Limehouse, East London. During the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, Limehouse had a large Chinese community. May set up a boarding house for foreign seamen and became a very prominent figure in the area. She saw first hand many of the changes to London's Chinatown in Limehouse.
In 1932, The People newspaper picked up on her story and proclaimed her the 'White Woman Ruler of Chinatown'. The story of her life in Chinatown was serialised weekly in the Sunday People.
May Flack died in 1954.