Private Herbert Gifford Harvey
Number: 9369
Company: 46th (Belfast) Company, 13th Battalion, First Contingent
ENLISTMENT
Date: 30 December 1899
Place: Belfast
Age: 21 years 10 months
Trade or calling: Engineer
Place of birth: In the Parish of Shankill, in or near the Town of Belfast, in the County of Antrim.
Address: Lough View, Antrim Road
Family: Single. Father James Thompson Harvey, ship owner and agent, mother Elizabeth Garston Harvey (nee Gifford), of Lough View, Antrim Road, Belfast.
Previous military service: No
Description: Height 6' 2". Complexion fresh, eyes grey, hair brown. Anchor left forearm, mole left buttock.
Religion: Church of England
ACTIVE SERVICE
Date to South Africa: 3 March 1900
Date home: 8 June 1901
Service medal, clasps and other awards: Queen's South Africa Medal. Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, 1901 clasps.
DISCHARGE
Date: 15 June 1901
Place: Belfast
Reason for discharge: The termination of his engagement.
Intended place of residence: Lough View, Antrim Road, Belfast.
Conduct: Good
Special qualifications: Good groom and rider
Harvey was among the 400 men captured by Boer forces at Lindley on 31 May 1900. Five days later he was one of 24 men too sick or injured to travel any further who were left in a temporary hospital at Reitz - he was suffering from dysentery. They were released on 7 July when the town was captured by the British.
He was mentioned in a letter home by Lance Corporal Ben Johnston.
According to information sourced from the site Encyclopedia Titanica, on his return from South Africa he worked on the shore staff at Harland & Wolff in Belfast, and then joined Messrs. Lawther, Latta & Co., managing owners for the Nitrate Producers Steamship Co. Ltd., serving with this company for eighteen months. Harvey then joined the White Star Line, being appointed assistant third engineer of the Teutonic in 1907, later becoming assistant second engineer. On the Olympic he was assistant third engineer, later transferring to the Titanic as junior assistant second. He was on board the Titanic for her maiden voyage. At the time of the ship's collision with an iceberg he was on duty in the engine room and this is where he was last seen. His body, if recovered, was never identified. Harvey is remembered on the family headstone in the Belfast City Cemetery.
Image sourced from the Encyclopedia Titanica site.
This page last updated 15 December 2025.