George John Harvey was born on 31 March 1885 at 106 Spencer Road, South Hornsey, Middlesex (now Greater London), one of the ten children of George John Harvey (1853-1930) and Caroline Harvey née Floyd (b.1851). His birth was registered on 16 May 1885 in the Edmonton Registration District, Middlesex (now Greater London) and his birth certificate shows that his father was a Carman.
On 9 October 1887 he, together with his sister Lily Ethel Harvey were baptised at St Matthias Church, Stoke Newington, Middlesex (now Greater London) where in the baptismal registers their family were shown as still living at 106 Spencer Road, Stoke Newington and that his father continued to be listed as a carman.
In the 1891 census he was shown as George Harvey, aged 6 years and a scholar, residing at 106 Spencer Road, South Hornsey, with his parents and six of his siblings: Eliza Emily Harvey (b.circa 1878) - a mother's help; William Henry Harvey (b.circa 1879-1915) - a scholar; Charles T. Harvey (b.1881) - a scholar; Alice Harvey (b.circa 1883) - a scholar; Ethel Harvey (b.circa 1888) and Arthur Harvey (b.circa 1890), together with a male boarder. His father remained listed as a carman.
He was described in the 1901 census as aged 16 years and a draper's packer, living at 113 Nevill Road, Stoke Newington, with his parents and seven siblings: Eliza Emily Harvey - a machinist dressing dolls; Charles T. Harvey - a gold and silver polisher; Alice Harvey - an artist's model; Ethel Harvey; Arthur Harvey; Ernest Harvey (b.circa 1892) and Stanley Alfred Harvey (b.circa 1894). His father listed as a carman.
On 15 November 1908 he married Alice Edith Watson (b.1887) in St Mary Magdalene Church, Bennett Street, Chiswick, Middlesex (now Greater London), where in the marriage register he was shown as aged 23 years, a bachelor and a carman, residing at 11 Quick Road, Chiswick, whilst he wife was described as aged 21 years and a spinster also living at 11 Quick Road, Chiswick and the daughter of Alfred Samuel Watson, a gardener.
In the April 1911 census, he is shown as aged 26 years and a warehouseman for government contractors for clothing, living in one room at 32 Swinbrook Road, North Kensington with his wife and two children, George Charles Harvey (b.1908) and Ethel Florence Harvey (1910-2006).
He and his wife were to have two further children: Alice Caroline Harvey (1912-2006) and Ernest Alfred Harvey (1913-1983). In February 1913 he was appointed as a Porter in the Post Office’s Western District Office.
He joined the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays), service number 5787 and entered France on 8 October 1914. He was killed in action, aged 30 years on 13 May 1915 in the Battle of Frezenberg Ridge. As he has no known grave he was commemorated on Panel 3 of the the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, Menenstraat, Ypres (now called Ieper), Belgium. This memorial also shows his brother, William Henry Harvey, who was also serving in the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays), service number 4934, who was also killed in action on the same day.
The Register of Army Effects claim that although he was serving in the 2nd Dragoon Guards, he was at the time of his death attached to the 1st Life Guards. His army effects totalling £7-9s-5d were sent to his widow on 14 January 1916. His £5-0s-0d war gratuity was also sent to her on 8 September 1919 by which time she had been remarried to another soldier, Arthur Edwin King (1882-1947).
He was posthumously awarded the 1914 Star with '5th Aug - 22nd Nov 1914' Clasp, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
He is shown as 'HARVEY, G. J.' on the Western Postal District war memorial at Mount Pleasant, London, WC1 and as 'HARVEY G.' on the Borough of Stoke Newington war memorial at Stoke Newington Library, 184 Stoke Newington Church Street, London, N16 0JL. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website, on page 166 of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1914-1920, on the London WW1 Memorial website, on the A Street Near You website, and on the Royal British Legion's Everyone Remembered website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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