1901 HMS Warspite cover

[Chris Weddell]

Hi Everyone,

                  This is a very tatty cover an letter which was sent to HMS Warspite when she was the flagship of  Rear-Admiral Andrew Bickford at the Pacific station. Does anyone know anything about the recipient of the letter Major Harvent of the R.M.L.I. any help with this at all would be a great help as i have hit a dead end.  :-\

                                Chris W.

[Michael Dobbs]

Chris

Are your sure you have the correct surname - I make it to be Harvest ?  In that connection I have found the following:

"The tour of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York through the dominion of Canada in the year 1901"

Section 96 starts:
The royal party then proceeded to Esquimalt, where they were entertained at luncheon by Rear-Admiral Bickford on board the flagship Warspite.

And further down that section there is a reference to a Major Harvest being one of the Admiral's guests.

This is the webpage link: http://archive.org/stream/touroftheirroyal00popeuoft/touroftheirroyal00popeuoft_djvu.txt

I have also found this
Captain William Sidney Smith Harvest to be Major, .vice Newirigton, retired. Dated 8th October, 1897.

Taken from (page 5869) The London Gazette, October 26, 1897 at:
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26903/page/5869

Could this be your man ?

Mike  ;)

[Chris Weddell]

Mike,
        Thank you. This is my man. I just took a look at the 1901 Census and it told me he was on the Warspite at the time of the Census and this was his address. He was born around 1860 in Colchester Essex. I just see there are a lot of records for him on Ancestry so i will have a good look later. Again thanks.

                                                    Chris  ;D

[Frank Schofield]

Major W.S.S. Harvest Plymouth Division RMLI

22.12.00 Appt to Warspite

5.12.05 promoted to Lt/Col, RMLI

8.5.08 retired with rank of Colonel, RMLI

additional info, in Oct 1896 qualified as an Interpreter in German

Frank Schofield

[Michael Dobbs]

Chris

Glad to be of help and I see that Frank has also provided useful information, no doubt taken from his extensive Naval library (particularly Naval Lists).  Whilst searching I did see your actual cover on e-bay, so you were the lucky purchaser !

This proves the usefulness of the Forum - getting a second opinion on matters, albeit  naval matters have the upper hand at the moment !

Mike  ;D

[Chris Weddell]

Mike and Frank,
                        Thank you both for your help on this. I will see what else i can find out about William. There seems to be a lot of records of him on Ancestry. I just saw this one on ebay and thought i would like to research it. It has a 12 page letter with it.  ;D 

                                                              Chris

[Frank Schofield]

Chris
You are lucky I do not buy on e.bay or this item would have most probably ended up in my "Warspite" collection. Mainly the WW1 & WWII Battleship, but I do have items from the earlier "Warspite's" and the later nuclear submarine. You cannot win them all
Frank Schofield

[Chris Weddell]

Frank,
        Yes i was lucky to get the cover. This is my first item from Warspite of this period. One of my side lines is going to be of item of all periods from and to the South Pacific station. This being my first item. I would love to see an example of a first world war cover or card from Warspite. As so far i have not come across one.

                                                  Chris S-W.

[Alan Baker]

The rest of us haven't got one either - Frank has bagged the lot!

[Frank Schofield]

Lets upset the Treasurer, attached (hopefully), one of my favourite "Warspite" items from WW1, my scanner did not like my heading for some unknown reason
Frank Schofield

[Chris Weddell]

Frank,
        Thank you for showing us your cover. A very nice item.

                                      Chris  ;D

[Frank Schofield]

Gents

I have managed to sort out my new scanner at last.  and can now post the full page of the WW1 item

Frank Schofield