SIR ELIAB HARVEY,
Admiral of the Blue; Knight Commander of the most honourable Military Order of the Bath; and Member of Parliament for the county of Essex.
This officer, descended from an opulent family in the county he now represents, is a son of the late William Harvey, of Rolls, Chigwell, Esq., M.P. for the same shire, and was educated under the guardianship of his uncle General Edward Harvey[1]. He entered the naval service in 1771, as a Midshipman, in the William and Mary yacht; and was thence removed to the Orpheus frigate, commanded by Captain (afterwards Admiral) Macbride. We next find him serving in the same capacity on board the Lynx, of 10 guns, at the Leeward Islands; and subsequently with Lord Howe, in the Eagle, of 74 guns, on the coast of North America[2]. Whilst on the latter station, he was occasionally lent to the Mermaid and Liverpool, and had the misfortune to be cast away in the latter, upon Long Island.
Mr. Harvey returned to England with Lord Howe, Oct. 25, 1778, and was soon after promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. In 1780, upon the death of Mr. Nassau, he was elected M.P. for the borough of Maldon, in Essex; and subsequent to the action between Sir Hyde Parker and Admiral Zoutman, Aug. 5, 1781[3], he joined the Dolphin, of 44 guns, on the North Sea station, from which ship he removed into the Fury at Spithead, a few days prior to his being made a Commander in the Otter brig, then recently launched, and fitting at Dept-
- ↑ This gentleman appears to have been Adjutant-General of the forces. Eliab, another uncle of the subject of this memoir, was a King’s Counsel.
- ↑ Mr. Harvey joined the Eagle in 1775, the eventful period at which the American provinces revolted; and the whole of Lord Howe’s command became a scene of obstinate and sanguinary warfare; nevertheless, every enterprise in which the British fleet was concerned, proved successful; and the conquest of New York, of Rhode Island, of Philadelphia, of every settlement within the reach of a naval force, are irrefragable proofs of that nobleman’s abilities and zeal.
- ↑ See note §, at p. 175.
