at Wheatley, to the east of Oxford. May's mother was a supporter of the Conservative Party. Her father died in 1981, from injuries sustained in a car accident, and her mother of multiple sclerosis the following year. May later stated she was "sorry they [her parents] never saw me elected as a Member of Parliament".

May initially attended Heythrop Primary School, a state school in Heythrop, followed by St. Juliana's Convent School for Girls, a Roman Catholic