- May 9 Ethel Mary Smyth, composer, dies at 86
- May 11 Henk Hos, resistance fighter, executed at 37
- May 12 Arthur T Quiller-Couch [Q], British author/critic, dies at 80
- May 16 George Ade, US novelist/playwright (Counsel Widow), dies at 78
- May 16 Leone Sinigaglia, composer, dies at 75
- May 16 Max Brand, [Frederick Schiller Faust], western author, dies
- May 16 George Ade, American author (b. 1866)
- May 19 Godfrey Wilson, British Anthropologist of social change and colonial problems in Africa, commits suicide as a conscientious objector in WW II
- May 26 C M Francois, cricketer (WWII, 252 runs in 5 Tests for South Africa), dies
- May 28 Katri Vala, Finnish poet, dies at 42
- May 30 Jessie Ralph, actress (Good Earth, San Francisco), dies at 79