David Charles Harvey
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David Charles Harvey (29 July 1946 – 4 March 2004) was a historian and author. He is notable for his seminal work, ''Monuments To Courage'', which documents the graves of almost all recipients of the
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...
, a task that took him over 36 years to complete.


Biography

Harvey was born in
East Ham East Ham is a district of the London Borough of Newham, England, 8 miles (12.8 km) east of Charing Cross. East Ham is identified in the London Plan as a Major Centre. The population is 76,186. It was originally part of the hundred o ...
, London, the son of a grocer, and worked as a salesman after he attended Hinchley Wood School in
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...
. He later joined the
Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
, where he started the mounted police magazine ''One One Ten'', before he moved to
Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, to run an
equestrian centre An equestrian facility is created and maintained for the purpose of accommodating, training or competing equids, especially horses. Based on their use, they may be known as a barn, stables, or riding hall and may include commercial operations descr ...
for over a decade. A chance meeting with Canon William Lummis led him to take over his life-work of researching and documenting the final resting places of all
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...
recipients. This task took Harvey to 48 countries over the next four decades. However, an accident during a visit to the
Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France *Somme, Queensland, Australia *Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), a ...
in 1992 left Harvey in a wheelchair for the remainder of his life and he later had to have a leg amputated. ''Monuments to Courage'' was finally published in 1999. Harvey married once in 1968, to Ruth Ward. The couple had a son and two daughters. They divorced in 1979. Harvey died in 2004 aged 57. He received obituaries in ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'' and ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
''.


''Monuments to Courage''

''Monuments to Courage: Victoria Cross Monuments and Headstones'' is a two-volume book by Harvey on the last resting places of 1,322 of the 1,350 recipients of the
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...
. The book features an introduction by Princess Alexandra and a foreword by Australian VC recipient Sir Arthur Roden Cutler. Each entry gives the date of birth, date of action and brief details of the Victoria Cross action, date of death, and place of burial or cremation where applicable. Where possible, photographs of the individual, his grave, and any memorial were included. Excluding the recent Iraq war recipient ( Johnson Beharry), 28 Victoria Cross recipients were still alive at the time the book went to press, altbough several have since died. The research for this work took Harvey 36 years of travelling to 48 countries in his search for unknown graves. His interest in the topic was awakened in the early 1960s when he assisted
William Lummis Canon William Murrell Lummis MC (4 June 1886 – 2 November 1985) was a British military historian most noted for the research he conducted on the Victoria Cross, the Charge of the Light Brigade, and Rorke's Drift.Roy Dutton''Forgotten Heroe ...
into his researches into Victoria Cross recipients.Harvey, David (1999). ''Monuments to Courage: Victoria Cross Headstones and Memorials. Vol. 1, 1854–1916''


Details

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References


David Harvey (obituary)
in ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'' 17 March 2004, retrieved 14 April 2013 *David Harvey (obituary), ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'', 13 March 2004 British military writers 1946 births 2004 deaths British military historians Metropolitan Police officers People from East Ham Victoria Cross books English amputees {{UK-historian-stub