Francis Harvey

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Francis John William Harvey
29 April 1873 – 31 May 1916
Francis Harvey, VC
Place of birth	Upper Sydenham, Kent
Place of death	HMS Lion, North Sea
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Marine Light Infantry
Years of service	1892 to 1916
Rank	Major
Battles/wars	First World War • Battle of Heligoland Bight • Battle of Dogger Bank • Battle of Jutland
Awards	Victoria Cross

Major Francis John William Harvey, VC (29 April 1873 – 31 May 1916) was an officer of the British Royal Marine Light Infantry during the First World War. Harvey was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for valour available to British military personnel, for his actions at the height of the Battle of Jutland. A long serving Royal Marine officer descended of a military family, during his career Harvey became a specialist in naval artillery, serving on many large warships as gunnery training officer and gun commander. Specially requested for HMS Lion, the flagship of the British battlecruiser fleet, Harvey turned the ship into one of the very best ships for gunnery in the Royal Navy. In her he fought at the battles of Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank and Jutland. During this period, the guns under his command sank two German cruisers and almost destroyed the German battlecruiser flagship SMS Seydlitz.

At Jutland Harvey, although mortally wounded by German shellfire, ordered the blazing magazine of Q turret on the battlecruiser HMS Lion to be flooded. This action prevented the hundreds of shells stored there from catastrophically detonating in an explosion that would have destroyed the vessel and all aboard her. Although he succumbed to his injuries seconds later, his dying act saved over a thousand lives and prompted Winston Churchill to later comment: "In the long, rough, glorious history of the Royal Marines there is no name and no deed which in its character and consequences ranks above this".^[1]

Contents 1 Gunnery expert 2 First World War 2.1 Jutland 3 Remembrance 3.1 Victoria Cross citation 4 Notes 5 References

[edit] Gunnery expert

Harvey was born in Upper Sydenham, Kent, the son of Commander John William Francis Harvey, RN and Elizabeth Edwards Lavington Harvey née Penny. At age 11 in 1884, Harvey's family moved to Southsea and he attended Portsmouth Grammar School, achieving excellent academic results and showing proficiency in languages and debating.^[2] Harvey was descended from a military family, his great-great grandfather John Harvey had been killed at the Glorious First of June in 1794 and his great-grandfather Admiral Sir Edward Harvey, GCB, RN and grandfather Captain John Harvey of the 9th Regiment of Foot were also prominent military figures.^[3]

Given his pedigree, it was not surprising that Harvey chose a military career, and he was accepted by both the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and the Royal Naval College, Greenwich training. Choosing the latter school as a Royal Marines officer cadet, Harvey graduated in 1892 and the following year was made a full lieutenant, joining HMS Wildfire for his first sea-going commission.^[4] After just a year at sea, Harvey was back on shore attending gunnery courses at HMS Excellent, qualifying in 1896 as an instructor first class in naval gunnery.^[3] Attached to the cruiser HMS Phaeton, Harvey travelled widely over the next two years but in 1898 he was given a reprimand from the Admiralty for an unfavourable report he released on San Diego Harbour. Returning home the same year, Harvey was given the position of Assistant Instructor for Gunnery at Plymouth Division. During this period, Harvey married Ethel Edye and had one son, John.^[1]

Between 1898 and 1903 Harvey spent much of his time attached to the Channel Fleet, aboard HMS Edgar and HMS Diadem, practising and instructing in gunnery. In 1900 he was promoted to Captain.^[5] In 1903 he was posted aboard HMS Royal Sovereign, the first of a string of big ship appointments teaching gunnery to the heavy units of the Channel Fleet. By 1909, Harvey had served on HMS Duke of Edinburgh, HMS St George and the new battlecruiser HMS Inflexible. In 1910 Harvey became Instructor of Gunnery at Chatham Dockyard and the following year was promoted to Major,^[6] a report on the gunnery school commenting "Degree of efficiency in Gunnery Establishment at Chatham is very high both as regards general training and attention to detail. Great credit is due all concerned particularly to Major F.J.W. Harvey, the I of G".^[3]

The strength of this report subsequently gained Harvey a position as senior marine officer aboard HMS Lion, the 27,000 ton flagship of the British battlecruiser fleet. Lion had twelve 13.5-inch guns and Harvey was stationed in an office under Q turret directing their operation and fire. Under her new commander, Admiral David Beatty, Harvey turned Lion's gunnery into among the best in the fleet and he remained in command of her gunnery into the First World War, his first military campaign.^[3]

[edit] First World War

Harvey did not have to wait long to see action, the Battle of Heligoland Bight bloodying him and his ship for the first time just weeks into the war. On 28 August 1914, HMS Lion and her squadron mates HMS Queen Mary and HMS Princess Royal swept into the Heligoland Bight where German and British cruiser forces were already engaged in a bitter struggle.^[7] One German cruiser had already been sunk by the time Beatty's force arrived, but the German flagship SMS Köln and cruiser SMS Ariadne were surprised in the fog and decimated by heavy calibre shells from Beatty's battlecruisers. German Admiral Leberecht Maass and over 1,000 of his sailors were killed, Harvey's guns scoring several hits on the cruisers.^[3]

Six months later, Harvey's guns again caused severe damage to a German force at the Battle of Dogger Bank. Over the previous months, a German battlecruiser squadron under Admiral von Hipper had raided across the North Sea and bombarded several British coastal towns. On 24 January 1915, this was attempted several again, but this time British signals analysts had detected the raid and had passed the information along to the Admiralty, who dispatched Beatty's force to intercept and destroy them. Beatty and Hipper's squadrons collided at 09:00 and during the engagement that followed, Lion was left exposed by the poor performance of HMS Tiger, a new ship that had had significant troubles in recruiting and training her crew.^[8] Tiger's woeful gunnery left the German battlecruiser SMS Moltke uncovered and she was able to join the German flagship SMS Seydlitz in outnumbering Lion. The British flagship was hard pressed until one of Harvey's shots penetrated one of Seydlitz's turrets.^[1] A huge explosion destroyed the neighbouring turret as well and killed 160 men, the German flagship only surviving due to the actions of sailor Wilhelm Heidkamp, who wrenched open the water valves to the magazines even as the fires inflicted fatal injuries on him.^[9]

Lion was badly damaged in the action by shells from the passing SMS Derfflinger and with her engines failing, dropped back to engage the already sinking SMS Blücher. Misread signals resulted in the rest of the British fleet returning to support Lion in this task, allowing the remains of the battered German fleet to retire as the British destroyed the hapless Blücher and 792 of her crew.^[10] Following the battle, Harvey remained aboard Lion at Rosyth for the whole of 1915 and the first five months of 1916, continuing his gunnery training and preparations for major fleet action. His preparations came to fruition on the last day of May, when the British fleet sailed to meet the main body of the High Seas Fleet at the Battle of Jutland.

[edit] Jutland

"The armoured roof of Q turret had been folded back like an open sardine tin, thick yellow smoke was rolling up in clouds from the gaping hole and the guns were cocked up in the air awkwardly".

Lieutenant W. S. Chambers, HMS Lion's bridge.[11]

Beatty's battlecruisers led the British fleet in its attack, casting south into the North Sea to find the enemy during the afternoon of 31 May 1916. At 14:15, scouting cruisers spotted the German vanguard and Beatty closed to attack the enemy with his main force. Given time to prepare, von Hipper was ready for Beatty, his battlecruisers in line to face Beatty's approaching ships with their full broadsides. Von Hipper was also encouraged by the main German battleship fleet under Admiral Reinhard Scheer, which was steaming northwards close behind him. At 15:45 Beatty came within range of the German fleet and the battleship vanguards engaged each other with the opening fusillade.^[11] As the two squadrons closed on one another the superior German range–finding equipment told, shells pounding the British while the Germans remained untouched for the first 10 minutes of the engagement.^[11] Lion had taken numerous hits in the opening exchanges; her superstructure was damaged and Q turret, Harvey's station, smashed open by a direct hit from SMS Lützow.^[12] The ready magazine in the turret detonated instantly and blew off the turret's roof. This secondary explosion started a flash fire which blasted down through the gun's structure, killing or mortally wounding the entire crew of over 60 men.^[13] Only one man survived, a sergeant of marines who appeared on the bridge a few minutes later, badly burnt and wearing only the scraps of his charred uniform.^[11]

The sergeant reported that the German shell had struck a design flaw in the ship's construction, a weakened joint between the armoured wall and roof of the turret.^[12] This had ripped the roof back and allowed the shell access to the turret's interior before detonating, instantly setting off the ready magazine. The initial explosions killed or wounded everyone stationed in the turret itself and also ignited a flash fire in the turret's interior.^[12] Harvey, despite severe wounds and burns, realised that the shell hoist leading to the ship's main forward magazine was jammed open. With the hatch open, the flash fire would rapidly travel down to the main magazine resulting in an explosion that would tear the ship in two and kill everyone on board.^[14] Staggering across the wreckage of the turret, Harvey gave orders down the voice pipe for the magazined doors to be closed and the magazine compartments to be flooded, an action which would extinguish the fire there and prevent the imminent explosion.^[15] Turning to his sergeant, the one man still standing, Harvey instructed him to give a full report to Admiral Beatty. Seconds later, Harvey collapsed and died from the effects of his wounds.^[16] The sergeant went immediately to the bridge and notified the admiral of Harvey's actions before being taken below to have his wounds dressed.

After the battle, investigations showed just how close Lion had been to total destruction. Even as Harvey had shouted his order, the fire had blasted through the magazines immolating the ammunition crewmen. Some of the magazine crew were found dead with their hands still on the hatch handles they had closed at Harvey's order.^[16] A few minutes later, Lion was hit again by a shell that struck the weak point of the armour of X turrent, destroying the guns and killing 40 men. On this occasion, the shell hoist doors were shut so the blast did not reach the main magazine beneath the turret.^[15] Other ships of the battlecruiser fleet were less lucky; within minutes of Harvey's death, the HMS Indefatigable was torn to pieces by a series of magazine explosions that claimed 1,013 lives and just minutes after that HMS Queen Mary exploded "like a puffball" in one huge column of grey smoke, killing 1,275 sailors.^[17] Hours later during the main battlefleet engagement, Admiral Horace Hood's flagship HMS Invincible was destroyed with 1,032 lives. All three ships were lost as the result of open magazine explosions similar to the one narrowly avoided on Lion by Major Francis Harvey's quick reactions.^[17]

[edit] Remembrance

Harvey's charred corpse was taken from the wreckage of Q turret in the aftermath of battle and buried at sea with full honours alongside the other 98 fatal casualties Lion had suffered.^[1] His bravery in the face of certain death did not go unnoticed; he was mentioned by name in Admiral Jellicoe's post-battle dispatch and, with three other men, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.^[18] Harvey's widow Ethel was presented with the award at Buckingham Palace by King George V on 15 September 1916. The award was later presented to the Royal Marines Museum, Eastney Barracks by his son Lieutenant-Colonel John Malcolm Harvey of the King's Regiment in 1973.^[19] Harvey's name is inscribed on the Chatham Naval Memorial to those with no known grave, administered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.^[20]

[edit] Victoria Cross citation

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Arthur, Max (2004). Symbol of Courage, A History of the Victoria Cross. Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0-283103-51-9. 
• Bennett, Geoffrey (1968). Naval Battles of the First World War. Penguin. ISBN 0-141390-87-5. 
• Harvey, David (1999). Monuments to Courage. Naval & Military Press Ltd.. ISBN 1-843423-56-1. 
• Perrett, Bryan (2003). For Valour. Wiedenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297846-62-0. 
• Snelling, Stephen (2002). VCs of the First World War - The Naval VCs. Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-750913-95-9. 
• Through the Hawse Pipe, Battle of Jutland Memoir. Captain Alexander Grant. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
• Harvey, Francis John William. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
• Major Harvey. Royal Marines Commando, royalnavy.mod.uk. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
• Holders of the Victoria Cross: Buried at Sea. The Victoria Cross: Britain's Highest Award for Gallantry. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
• Francis John William Harvey (1873-1916). Find A Grave. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.

Persondata
NAME	Harvey, Francis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Harvey, Francis John William
SHORT DESCRIPTION	First World War Victoria Cross recipient.
DATE OF BIRTH	29 April 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH	Upper Sydenham, Kent
DATE OF DEATH	31 May 1916
PLACE OF DEATH	HMS Lion (1910), North Sea