Background
Christopher Thomas Harvie was born on September 21, 1944 in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, United Kingdom. Son of George Naismith and Isobel Mary (Russell) Harvie. Christopher Harvie grew up in the Borders village of St Boswells.
Christopher Thomas Harvie was born on September 21, 1944 in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, United Kingdom. Son of George Naismith and Isobel Mary (Russell) Harvie. Christopher Harvie grew up in the Borders village of St Boswells.
Harvie was educated in Kelso at Kelso High School and in Edinburgh at Royal High School. He studied at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated in 1966 with a First Class Honours M.A. in History. He received his Ph.D. from the same university in 1972.
Christopher worked as a lecturer in history at Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom from 1969 until 1980. He was then a professor of British studies at the University of Tuebingen, Germany, from 1980 until 2007. He was a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde, Aberystwyth and held various Labour Party posts between 1962 and 1980. Since 1990 he was vice-president of Scottish Centre for Social and Economic Research. He is Honorary President of the Scottish Association for Public Transport and holds honorary chairs at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and the University of Strathclyde. He also writes for Guardian Unlimited's online 'comment is free' site, and he is a contributor to the Scottish Review of Books. He was elected during the 2007 election for the Mid Scotland and Fife region. He served on the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee until 2011.
He visits Church of Scotland.
Harvie was formerly a member of the Labour Party. He co-wrote a pamphlet in favour of the Scottish Assembly along with Gordon Brown in 1979. In 1988 he left the Labour Party for the Scottish National Party.
Member labour party Scottish National Party, 1962—1988. Honorary president Scottish Association Public Transport, 2000. SNP member Scottish Parliament, 2007.
Christopher married Virginia Mary Roundell on April 26, 1980. The couple had a child Alison Margaret Harvie, born August 1982. In February 2005 his wife died.
