Background
He was born in Armagh, Ireland, and died in Saint John"s, Newfoundland.
He was born in Armagh, Ireland, and died in Saint John"s, Newfoundland.
Harvey was of Scottish descent and was educated at the Royal Academical Institute at Belfast.
His sermons there become an inspiration as a lecturer and a writer where he had written over 900 articles in a twenty-four year period that was published in the Montreal Gazette under the pen name Delta. Harvey had studied many aspects of Newfoundland"s natural history, most notably the habits of the giant squid. One species, Architeuthis harveyi, was named in recognition of his work.
lieutenant was largely through his efforts that the giant squids became known to British and American zoologists.
Harvey"s interests in Newfoundland were varied, he had called for the creation of a cross-island railroad, he was president of the Saint John"s Athenaeum Society, he pressed for the development of mining in Newfoundland and he also catalogued the rocks, birds and wild flowers of the island. In 1885 he published the book Text Book of Newfoundland History.
His best-known and most prominent book was Newfoundland, The Oldest British Colony which he co-authored with Joseph Hutton and published in 1883. In 1886 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and of the Royal Society of Canada in 1891.
Harvey was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from McGill University in 1891.
Harvey served as Secretary to the Newfoundland Fisheries Commission and had written and lectured a remarkable document entitled The Artificial Propagation of Marine Food Fishes and Edible Crustaceans, that was published in the Royal Society"s transactions for 1892 — 1893, Volume