John Harvey

John Harvey was a Cornishman whose career started as a blacksmith and engineer at Carnhell Green near Hayle, in west Cornwall. In 1779 he established a foundry and engineering works at Hayle called Harvey & Co. By 1800 the company employed more than 50 people and continued to grow as Harvey worked with many of the great Cornish engineers and entrepreneurs of the day. These included Richard Trevithick, William West, and, more importantly, Arthur Woolf. In 1797, Harvey's daughter, Jane, married Richard Trevithick.

Harvey & Co. built up a reputation for world class stationary beam engines designed to pump water out of the deep Cornish tin and copper mines. The Cornish beam engine became world-famous and was exported overseas, and remains the largest type of beam engine ever constructed; the largest of all, with a cylinder which powered eight separate beams, was used to drain the Haarlemmermeer in the Netherlands—it is preserved in the Museum De Cruquius.

Harvey's also produced a range of products, from hand tools to ocean-going ships including the . The company was expanded by John's son, Henry, in collaboration with Arthur Woolf, who was the chief engineer. At that time it was the main mining engine foundry in the world, with an international market served through their own port at Foundry Town, Hayle.

Harvey's of Hayle reached their peak in the early- to mid-19th century and then, along with the Cornish mining industry in general, suffered a gradual and slow decline. Harvey's acquired the Cornish Copper Company in 1875. The engineering works and foundry were closed in 1903, although the company continued to trade as a general and builders merchant, eventually merging with UBM to become Harvey-UBM in 1969.

List of ships

ShipGRTYard NoForDate of launch Henry Harvey 23 May 1857 Cornubia 589 Hayle and Bristol Steam Packet Company 27 February 1858 124 1860 Minros Charles Henry Smith of Swansea 22 April 1860 Penair 213 1862 Royal Bride 286 March 1863 Welsh Girl 1 August 1863 Cornish Girl 175 Porthleven United Shipping Company April 1864 Eliza Bain 300 Hitchens, Bain and Company 12 November 1864 175 Mr. Hitchens of St Agnes 24 June 1865 287 6 September 1865 232 June 1866 229 25 October 1866 353 Tom Mawr Company of Neath 10 June 1867 Unnamed Brigantine 214 Captain H Thomas of St Ives 21 June 1867 181 William Johns of St Ives 21 May 1868 Hannibal 370 Captain Hannibal Thomas 1868 South Devon Railway Company 24 July 1869 104 Dartmouth Steam Packet Company 7 September 1869 306 27 May 1870 118 J.B. Mansfield of Teignmouth 8 September 1871 398 George Batters of London 29 March 1873 380 16 May 1874 152 West Cornwall Steam Ship Company 9 March 1875 W. Jewell of Falmouth 10 June 1875 T.S.B. 289 Thomas Bolitho and Sons, Penzance 5 November 1877 289 February 1878 110 15 April 1879 275 25 October 1880 106 29 July 1880 306 26 January 1881 114 32 July 1883 103 33 August 1883 120 36 October 1884 148 42 Thomas Bolitho and Sons, Penzance June 1887 340 39 22 August 1888 655 43 Whiteway and Ball or Torquay 9 August 1888 SS Lyonesse 382 45 West Cornwall Steamship Company 2 February 1889 154 46 1889 1750 47 24 October 1889 1978 48 R.B.Chellew 3 July 1890 2033 49 R.B. Chellew 12 December 1890 2660 51 6 June 1891 539 52 Welsford and Company 23 September 1891 536 53 30 November 1891 536 54 1892 361 55 Rogers and Bright of Liverpool 25 July 1892 423 56 20 March 1893