Biography

The youngest resident of Craigdarroch was grandson Robert Dunsmuir Harvey. Orphaned at age 12, Robert moved into his grandmother’s Castle in the fall of 1890. He became an accomplished sportsman and equestrian, winning trophies and awards in hurdles, sprinting and long-distance running, high jump, fencing, and polo. Following in the footsteps of older brother, James Swan Harvey, Robert chose a military career.
 
In 1891, 13 year-old Robert was sent by his grandmother Joan to Trinity College School, an exclusive private boy’s school in Port Hope, Ontario. Academic records show he was an adequate student. He served on the Athletic Sports Committee, a position typically held by three of the most gifted student athletes.
 
Robert joined the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario as a ‘Gentleman Cadet’ in 1896. Upon graduating in 1899, the RMC Commandant recorded that 21 year-old Sergeant Harvey (cadet rank) was of “very good character”. Two months later, Harvey joined the 4th (The Queen’s Own) Hussars, a Cavalry Regiment of the British Army serving in India. Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 30 August 1899, he was promoted to Lieutenant on 4 December, 1900. A fellow Lieutenant in this regiment was young Winston Churchill, who would later serve as First Lord of the Admiralty and Prime Minister of Great Britain during the World War II.
 
Officers of elite cavalry regiments like the 4th Hussars were expected to live in a fashion not easily sustained by the meagre £118 annual salary earned by men like Robert. A family story is that young Robert wired a message to his grandmother at Craigdarroch requesting help. She asked how much he needed and he replied, “5,000”.  Robert meant dollars, but his grandmother thought he meant pounds sterling, which she sent!
 
Life in India was very difficult for everyone, regardless of rank and social standing. During the regiment’s first five years in India, twelve officers and 500 non-commissioned officers and men died from fever and cholera. On 22 August 1901 Robert died from “abscess of liver” at Secunderabad. He was only 23.
 
Robert’s possessions were sent by his regiment to his grandmother Joan Olive Dunsmuir and sister Elizabeth Georgina Harvey at Craigdarroch. 

Lifetime

1878 – 1901