Biography

James Swan Harvey (1872-1932)

James Swan Harvey was born in Nanaimo to James Harvey (1844-1890) and Agnes Crooks Dunsmuir (1849-1889), also known as Mrs. James Harvey. He worked in his father’s Nanaimo store briefly before going to Trinity College School in Point Hope, Ontario in the late 1880’s. While in Ontario, he had some training as a military cadet before moving to Scotland in the early 1890’s to work with his uncle John Harvey’s business, James Finlay & Co., Mercantile Agents (brokers). ^1.

It was during this period in Scotland that Harvey joined the 4^th Battalion of the Cameronian Highland Regiment, rising to the rank of Captain. ^2. He next returned to Victoria and was briefly involved in a shipping venture in Alaska for which he sought, unsuccessfully, funding from his uncle Alexander Dunsmuir. ^3. In 1899, he married Mabel Agnes Gaudin.

By 1914, he was a Lieutenant in the 50th Gordon Highlanders based in Victoria. He joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War, and was a Lieutenant in Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in France. His medical records indicate that he suffered frostbite to both feet at Flanders in March, 1915. Later records describe this as “trench foot.” Despite lengthy hospitalization in France and England, he was invalided home to Canada where he continued military service .^4. He was the officer commanding “J” District (Military District 11) for the Military Hospitals Commission Command during demobilization, and was discharged on October 31, 1919.

Col. Harvey never fully recovered from injury to his feet. War had perhaps also disabled his spirit. He separated from his wife Mabel late in life. His grandson told Craigdarroch’s Curator Bruce Davies that family members felt that he suffered from what is today called post-traumatic stress disorder.

1. Harvey, Robert James. Email correspondence with Bruce Davies, April 16, 2004. Harvey is the grandson of James Swan Harvey.

2. Ibid.

3. RBCM BC Archives Series GR-2731 - Victoria Supreme Court civil case file 12/1902: Hopper vs. Dunsmuir.
 
 4. Lt. James Swan Harvey Service File. LAC RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4136–10 Item #447818.

Lifetime

1872 – 1932