Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Harvey, Thomas (1775-1811)
HARVEY, Sir THOMAS (1775–1841), vice-admiral, fourth son of Admiral Sir Henry Harvey [q. v.], entered the navy in 1787, served as master's mate of the Ramillies, then commanded by his father, in the action of 1 June 1794, and was promoted to be lieutenant in the following October. As lieutenant of the Prince of Wales, with his father and cousin [see Harvey, Sir John, 1772–1837], he was present in the action off Lorient, 23 June 1795. He was promoted to be commander in July 1796; commanded the Pelican sloop at the reduction of Trinidad in February 1797, and was advanced to post rank 27 March 1797. He afterwards commanded the Lapwing and Unité frigates in the Mediterranean and West Indies; and in the latter, returning to England, joined the squadron in the Thames under Nelson, who for a short time hoisted his flag on board the Unité Towards the end of 1805 Harvey was appointed to the Standard of 64 guns, which joined Lord Collingwood's flag in the Mediterranean, and which, in February 1807, was one of the squadron under Sir John Thomas Duckworth [q. v.] in the Dardanelles, and was specially engaged in the destruction of the Turkish squadron in the entrance of the Straits. In the return passage she was struck by one of the huge stone shot, upwards of six feet in circumference, and weighing eight hundred pounds, which broke in on to the lower deck, caused an explosion of cartridges which wounded several men, and set the ship on fire. Returning to England in the autumn of 1808, Harvey was appointed early in the following year to the Majestic, attached to the fleet in the Baltic; he afterwards commanded the Sceptre in the North Sea. In June 1815 he was nominated a C.B., and from 1819 to 1821 had command of the Northumberland guardship at Sheerness, from which he was superseded on attaining his flag on 19 July. In April 1833 he was made a K.C.B., became vice-admiral on 10 Jan. 1837, and in March 1839 was appointed to the command-in-chief in the West Indies, a post previously held by his father and his cousin John. He died at Bermuda, during his tenure of office, 28 May 1841. Harvey married, in March 1805, his first cousin, Sarah, daughter of Captain John Harvey (1740–1794) [q. v.], and by her had three sons, of whom Thomas, born in 1810, died a rear-admiral in 1868, and Henry, born in 1812, died an admiral in 1887; the third, William, was in holy orders.
[Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biog. ii. (vol. i. pt. ii.) 797; O'Byrne's Nav. Biog. Dict. s. n. ‘Thomas Harvey;’ United Service Mag. 1841, pt. iii. 101.]