HARVEY, Daniel (c.1664-1732), of Mitcham, Surr.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

23 Jan. 1707 - 1708
5 Feb. 1709 - 1710
1713 - 3 June 1714

Family and Education

b. c.1664, 2nd s. of Sir Daniel Harvey† of Coombe, Surr. by Elizabeth, da. of Edward Montagu†, 2nd Baron Montagu of Boughton, sis. of Hon. Edward Montagu† and Ralph†, 1st Duke of Montagu; bro. of Edward Harvey*.  educ. Christ Church, Oxf. matric. 16 Oct. 1677, aged 13, BA 1681.  m. 6 May 1707, his cos. Lady Anne, da. of Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu, wid. of Alexander Popham*, s.p.1

Offices Held

Capt. of horse Ld. Delamer’s (Hon. Henry Booth†) regt. c.1689–91; guidon and maj. 2 tp. Life Gds. 1691, cornet and maj. 1693, lt. and lt.-col. 1694; col. of drag. in Ire. 1695–7, of horse 1697–9, 2 Drag. Gds. 1699–1712; brig.-gen. 1703, maj.-gen. 1704, lt.-gen. 1707; lt. gov. Guernsey 1714–d.

Freeman, Dunwich 1709.2

Biography

Harvey made the army his career, serving in Ireland until his regiment was disbanded in March 1691 and transferring to the Life Guards later that year. Although the regiment he obtained in 1695 was disbanded at the peace of Ryswick, he gained another colonelcy in 1699 and at the outbreak of the new war was stationed with his regiment in Ireland. When it was decided in August 1703 to send his regiment to Portugal, Harvey was reported to be ‘desirous to go, supposing he will be a brigadier upon that establishment’, and he attained this office through the good auspices of Lord Rochester (Laurence Hyde†). Eager for further advancement, by May 1704 Harvey was pressing for promotion to major-general and, though the Duke of Marlborough (John Churchill†) remarked that ‘we have colonels in the service elder officers than he is’, the commission was granted later that year. The Duke’s displeasure was further provoked in the following September by the proposal that Harvey should accompany the Duke of Schomberg from Portugal to England, Marlborough describing it as ‘the most extravagant thing when the army is going into the field that ever was heard of’, and Harvey earned further opprobrium from the duumvirs in the summer of 1706, when Lord Godolphin (Sidney†) informed Marlborough of his ‘indignation’ that Harvey and Lord Mohun had been seen ‘walking in St. James’s Park and every day in the chocolate house, while their regiments are serving abroad’.3

Harvey’s continued presence in England may have been owing to his desire to enter Parliament, as in December 1706 he contested, on the interest of his maternal uncle the Duke of Montagu, a by-election at Clitheroe. Following a double return Harvey was seated by the House on 23 Jan. 1707. Shortly after his election he strengthened his ties with Montagu by marrying the Duke’s daughter, and Harvey’s politics reflected the Whig loyalties of Montagu rather than the Tory sympathies of his own brother Edward and cousins Michael* and William Harvey I*. The presence of a number of namesakes in the Commons makes it difficult to attribute parliamentary activity to Harvey, but his military experience may point to his being the ‘Mr Harvey’ who was appointed on 15 Mar. 1707 to draft a bill to raise the militia. Early in 1708 he was classed as a Tory in a parliamentary list, but it seems probable that this was a mistake attributable to Harvey’s recent entry into the House and his Tory family.

At the 1708 election Harvey turned his attention to Suffolk where, having considered (and been dissuaded from) standing at Orford, he eventually contested Dunwich, and was seated on petition on 7 Feb. 1709. During this Parliament he voted in 1709 for naturalizing the Palatines, and the following year for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell, but again his parliamentary activity is difficult to identify and the only act that can definitely be attributed to him was his presentation on 25 Jan. 1710 of Edward Montagu’s* petition for a private bill. He was defeated at Dunwich in the general election that year, and on 30 Dec. it was reported that ‘Major-General Harvey and other officers here in the service of Spain, are ordered to be at their several posts by 17 Feb., on pain of being cashiered’. Harvey retired from the army in 1712, and in 1713 successfully contested Weymouth. On 18 Mar. 1714 he voted against the expulsion of Steele, and, given his Whig loyalties, it seems likely that he was the ‘Mr Harvey’ who told on the Whig side in the division on the Brackley election petition (20 Apr.) and against the passage of the schism bill (1 June). On 3 June Harvey was unseated on petition, but he was successful at Weymouth in 1715, being classed as a Whig in the Worsley list, and in two further comparisons of the 1713 and 1715 Parliaments. He voted with the Whig administration throughout the 1715 Parliament. He died on 6 Sept. 1732.4

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Paula Watson / Richard Harrison

Notes

  • 1. Misc. Gen. et Her. ser. 2, ii. 363.
  • 2. HMC Var. vii. 107.
  • 3. CSP Dom. 1703–4, p. 80; Marlborough–Godolphin Corresp. 233, 310, 374, 375, 575, 590.
  • 4. W. Suss. RO, Shillinglee mss Ac. 454/1165, Thomas Palmer to Sir Edward Turnor*, 21 Mar. 1707–8; 454/1212, John Morgan to same, Apr. 1708; HMC Var. vii. 107; Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 672.