Family and Education

b. 5 Dec. 1758, 4th s. of William Harvey and bro. of William Harvey, jun.  educ. Westminster 1768; Harrow 1770-5.  m. 15 May 1784, Lady Louisa Nugent, da. and coh. of Robert, 1st Earl Nugent, 2s. 6da.  suc. bro. 1779; K.C.B. 2 Jan. 1815, G.C.B. 17 Jan. 1825.

Offices Held

Lt. R.N. 1779; cdr. 1782; capt. 1783; r.-adm. 1805; v.-adm. 1810.

Biography

Returned unopposed for Maldon at the by-election of 1780 and again at the general election, Harvey was probably brought in on the interest of his fellow Member John Strutt, in return for paying two-thirds of the election expenses.1 Harvey supported Lord North’s Administration to the end, voted for Shelburne’s peace preliminaries, 18 Feb. 1783, but does not appear in the division on Fox’s East India bill. In Stockdale’s list of 19 Mar. 1784 he is counted as a supporter of Pitt.

The English Chronicle wrote of him in 1781: ‘We never heard of Mr. Harvey’s abilities in the House as a speaker, he being content to give a silent vote ... Though little heard of in his legislative capacity, he has made some noise in the gay world, having, it is said, not long ago actually lost all his fortune to Captain O’Bourne at cards who suffered him to regain the whole again, excepting only the trifling sum of ten thousand pounds.’2

Harvey did not stand in 1784.  He died 20 Feb. 1830.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Mary M. Drummond

Notes

• 1. C. R. Strutt, Strutt Fam. of Terling, 19.
• 2. See also Walpole to Mann, 6 Feb. 1780.