Theresa May - Early Life, Education and Career

Early Life, Education and Career

May was born 1 October 1956, in Eastbourne, Sussex. She is the daughter of Rev. Hubert Brasier, a Church of England clergyman, and Mrs Zaidee Brasier. Her education was completed at a combination of state primary, independent convent and state secondary schools. She initially attended Heythrop Primary School, Oxfordshire, followed by St. Juliana's Convent School for Girls, a Roman Catholic independent school in Begbroke, which closed in 1984. At the age of 13, she gained a place at the former Holton Park Girls' Grammar School in Wheatley in Oxfordshire. In 1971, the school was abolished and became the site of the new Wheatley Park Comprehensive School during her time as a pupil. May then attended the University of Oxford where she read Geography at St Hugh's College, taking a BA (Hons) in 1977.

From 1977 to 1983 May worked at the Bank of England, and from 1985 to 1997, as a financial consultant and senior advisor in International Affairs at the Association for Payment Clearing Services. She was a councillor in the London Borough of Merton from 1986 to 1994, where she was Chairman of Education (1988–90) and Deputy Group Leader and Housing Spokesman (1992–94). In the 1992 general election May stood (and lost) in the safe Labour seat of North West Durham and then unsuccessfully contested the 1994 Barking by-election. In the 1997 general election May was elected the Conservative MP for Maidenhead which extends as far west as the village of Sonning on the East side of Reading where she lives.