Edward Harvey

Admiral Sir Edward Harvey, GCB was an officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and continued in the service during the first half of the nineteenth century during which he participated in the bombardment of Acre in 1840. Harvey was the son of John Harvey an officer killed in action at the Glorious First of June and was related to several senior officers of the period in the distinguished Harvey family. A greatgrandson, Francis Harvey won the Victoria Cross in 1916, sacrificing himself to save over 1,000 lives.

Edward Harvey was born at the family home in Eastry, Kent to Captain John Harvey and his wife Judith. the second brother of a large family, Harvey was educated at home before joining his father on his ship HMS Brunswick as a gentleman volunteer aged only ten at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793. Gaining experience of the service under his father and accompanied by his cousin Thomas Harvey, young Edward was present during the Glorious First of June, when a British Fleet under Admiral Lord Howe engaged a French force several hundred miles out in the North Atlantic. The battle was fought to contest the passage of a grain convy from the United States to France and although the French lost the battle, they did give the convoy time to reach the French Atlantic ports.

Source: Wikipedia