botanical artist, lithographer and botanist, was born on 5 February 1811 at Summerville, County Limerick, Ireland. Educated at Ballitore School, County Kildare, he became an apprentice in his father’s business but spent more time on natural history, particularly botany, an interest further stimulated through his association with Dr William Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. As early as 1831 Harvey had come to the notice of Hooker, who commissioned him to describe the algae in the new edition of the British Flora and sent him algal collections made on expeditions to the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Harvey was colonial treasurer at Cape Town from 1836 to 1841 when ill-health forced him to return to Ireland where he was appointed curator of the Herbarium at Trinity College, Dublin. Awarded an honorary MD in 1844 by the college, he later undertook a tour of the United States as guest of the Smithsonian Institution and Harvard University. In 1853 he visited Australia, arriving on 7 January 1854 at Albany, Western Australia, and leaving Sydney for New Zealand and the South Pacific on 15 June 1855. He subsequently returned to New South Wales, spending some time in Sydney and Kiama. In April or May 1856 he sailed home via Valparaiso, reaching Dublin in October. Trinity College appointed him professor of botany on his return.
The first illustrations published by Harvey, dealing with marine algae of the British Isles, appeared in 1834. Later he depicted South African, North American, British and Japanese plants, mostly algae. Harvey illustrated all his publications on higher plants, particularly the algae, and made his own lithographs, some of which he hand-coloured. Each plate shows the habitat of the plant and includes fine drawings of the microscopic detail. All are well balanced and make a pleasing picture.
In a letter written when he was 16, Harvey described himself: 'My botanical knowledge extends to about thirty of the commonest plants. I am very fond of botany, but I have not much opportunity of learning anything … In lithography I broke a stone and a printing press’. His biographer, Praeger, continues: 'The reference to lithography is interesting, in view of the fact that he became later on one of the most exquisite delineators of plants, and with his own hand drew on stone the greater part of the splendid plates which enrich his works on Phanerogams and Algae’. Praeger further stresses the 'want of robust health which followed him through life, and brought about his premature death [he died of tuberculosis]; and in spite of which he performed such monumental tasks’.
It is surprising to see how much Harvey published in his short life, illustrations being found in all his published work. He worked exceedingly quickly, but his observations were most reliable – proved by investigations made with more sophisticated equipment. Shortly after his death at Torquay on 15 May 1866, Professor Asa Gray wrote: 'he was a keen observer and a capital describer. He investigated accurately, worked easily and readily with microscope, pencil and pen’.
