HARVEY, Sir John, governor of Virginia. He was appointed to this office after Yeardley's death in 1627, arrived in Virginia in 1629, and met his first assembly of burgesses in 1630. He supported those who desired separate jurisdictions and grants of land, preferring the interest of individual patrons, especially Lord Baltimore, to the claims of the colony. He held a warrant to receive for himself all fines arising from any sentence in the judicial courts, and many such were accordingly imposed on the colonists. In 1635 he was suspended and impeached by the assembly. He attempted to make terms with the council which would yield to none of his conditions, and elected John West in his place. He then went to England, his cause was investigated by the privy council, and he was restored by the king in 1636, and returned to Virginia in 1637. He assembled the council in Elizabeth City, and published the king's proclamation, pardoning many who had opposed him. He continued in office until 1639, and is said to have been one of the most rapacious, tyrannical, and unpopular of the colonial governors.

--BEGIN-Sir John Harvey

HARVEY, Sir John, British soldier, born in 1778; died in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 22 March, 1852. He entered the British army as ensign in the 80th regiment under Lord Paget, afterward the Marquis of Anglesea, whose natural son he was believed to be. After serving in Holland, France, the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, and Egypt, he returned to England in 1807, and in 18O8 became assistant quarter-master-general under Lord Chatham, at Colchester. From 1809 till 1812 he commanded a regiment, and was on the staff of the adjutant-general's department in Ireland. In 1812 he was appointed deputy adjutant-general to the army in Canada, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He led the attack at Stony Creek, where he captured the American generals Chandler and Winder. He received a medal for gallantry at Chrysler's Farm, and took part in the battles of Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie, where he was severely wounded. He was aide-de-camp to Wellington during his Waterloo campaign, and in 1837-'41 was governor of New Brunswick. He then became governor and commander-in-chief of Newfoundland, and in 1846 was made governor of Nova Scotia, holding this post until his death. He was nominated knight commander of the Hanoverian Guelphic order in 1824, and a knight commander of the order of the Bath in 1838.