Francis Harvey
Major Francis John William Harvey, VC, was an officer of the British Royal Marine Light Infantry during the First World War. Harvey was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military award for gallantry in the face of the enemy. He fought at the battles of Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank and Jutland. His dying act may have saved over a thousand lives and prompted Winston Churchill to later comment: “In the long, rough, glorious history of the Royal Marines there is no name and no deed which in its character and consequences ranks above this”.
About Francis Harvey in brief
Major Francis John William Harvey, VC, was an officer of the British Royal Marine Light Infantry during the First World War. Harvey was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military award for gallantry in the face of the enemy given to British and Commonwealth forces. Harvey fought at the battles of Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank and Jutland. He was a specialist in naval artillery, serving on many large warships as gunnery training officer and gun commander. His dying act may have saved over a thousand lives and prompted Winston Churchill to later comment: “In the long, rough, glorious history of the Royal Marines there is no name and no deed which in its character and consequences ranks above this”. Harvey was born in Upper Sydenham, Kent, the son of Commander John William Francis Harvey, RN and Elizabeth Edwards Lavington Harvey née Penny. After leaving school, Harvey chose a military career and was accepted by both the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and the Royal Naval College, Greenwich for officer training. In 1898, whilst on the Phaeton, he was reprimanded by the Admiralty for an unfavourable report he released on San Diego Harbour. By 1909, Harvey had served on HMS Duke of Edinburgh, HMS St George and the new battlecruiser HMS Inflexible.
In 1910 Harvey became Instructor of Gunnery at Chatham Dockyard and the following year was promoted to major. During this period, Harvey married Ethel Edye and had one son, John. Between 1898 and 1904 Harvey spent much of his time attached to the Channel Fleet, aboard HMS Edgar and HMS Diadem, practising and instructing in gunnery. On 28 January 1900 he was posted aboard HMS Royal Sovereign, the first of a string of big ship appointments teaching gunnery to the heavy units of the channel Fleet. In 1903, Harvey served as senior marine officer on board the new commander, Rear-Admiral David Beatty, Rear Admiral Sir Edward Harvey, GCB, RN. In 1914, Lion and her squadron of HMS Queen Mary, swept into the Heligeland Bight where German and British forces were already engaged in a bitter struggle. One German cruiser had already been sunk by the time Beatty’s force arrived. Harvey did not have to wait long to see action, seeing first combat at the first time at the Battle of Heligsland. The following year he was made a full lieutenant, joining HMS Wildfire for his first seagoing commission. After just a year at sea, Harvey was back on shore attending gunnery courses at HMS Excellent, qualifying in 1896 as an instructor first class in navalGunnery.
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This page is based on the article Francis Harvey published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
