John Harvey

Captain John Harvey (9 July 1740 – 30 June 1794) was a Royal Navy officer whose death in the aftermath of the battle of the Glorious First of June where he had commanded terminated a long and highly successful career and made him a celebrity in Britain, a memorial to his memory being raised in Westminster Abbey.

Early career Born in 1740 at Eastry, Kent, John Harvey was the son of Richard and Elizabeth Harvey née Nichols, local gentry. Entering the Navy in 1754, Harvey began a long family naval tradition, taken up by his brother Henry Harvey a few years later. His first ship was , a fifty-gun fourth rate in which he stayed for five years into the Seven Years' War. In 1759, promoted to lieutenant with the patronage of Admiral Francis Holburne and distant relation Sir Peircy Brett, Harvey joined the sloop-of-war and frigate , taking shore pay in 1762 at the war's conclusion. The same year he married Judith Wise of Sandwich, Kent and the couple had large family, their sons including several future admirals.

American War of Independence Between 1766 and 1768, Harvey commanded the sloop off Scotland but following promotion in 1768 he was again forced to take half-pay on shore for the next eight years, until the American War of Independence caused a dramatic increase of the size of the Navy. Briefly commanding the sloop , Harvey was soon promoted once more, making post captain and being given the prime command of , the 60-gun flagship of Admiral Robert Duff at Gibraltar. From 1778 until 1780, Harvey distinguished himself at the Great Siege of Gibraltar, even commanding there during 1780 in the absence of his senior officer. is in Westminster Abbey. Two of Harvey's sons, Sir John Harvey and Sir Edward Harvey would later become admirals in their own right.