Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 19 September 1917
Given by Bassano & Vandyk Studios, 1974
Photographs Collection
NPG x105517
Sitterback to top
- Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey (1888-1980), Irish Canadian rugby union player, Brigadier-General and recipient of the Victoria Cross. Sitter associated with 1 portrait.
Artistback to top
- Bassano Ltd (active 1901-1962), Photographers. Artist or producer associated with 42746 portraits.
Placesback to top
- Place made: United Kingdom: England, London (photographer's studio, 25 Old Bond Street , London)
Events of 1917back to top
Current affairs
King George V changes his name from 'Saxe-Coburg' to 'Windsor.' Amid wartime anti-German public sentiment the British Royal Family decided to relinquish their German name and titles. The name 'Windsor' was chosen as variation on ''Wettin', the late Prince Albert's personal surname.Art and science
The National Photographic Record is established at the instigation of the photographer Walter Stoneman to commission photographs of 'distinguished living contemporaries of British nationality.' This project allowed the National Portrait Gallery to circumvent its own rule that portraits could not enter the collection until the sitter had been dead ten years.International
The Russian Revolution begins with the February Revolution and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. Seven months later the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin seize power in the October Revolution forming the Soviet Communist Government, which lasted until 1991. The USA abandons its neutrality and joins the war against Germany following a series of attacks on American passenger and merchant ships.Comments back to top
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Paul Egan
24 April 2019, 19:43
Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey is a man who still features in the sporting press today. One of the world’s all time greatest sportsmen he was born in Athboy on the first of September 1888. He was obviously from a wealthy background as he went to school in Portora Royal High School in Enniskillen. Himself and his older brother Thomas, who later became a Church of Ireland Bishop, played rugby for Ireland. Thomas was also an international cricket player.
Athboy had a population of approximately 600 when Frederick left in April 1908. He went to Canada and worked as a surveyor. In 1915 he enlisted in the Canadian Army. He became a Lieutenant and was posted to France in 1916. Frederick is one of the three Irish rugby internationals from the same club who were awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery. He single handedly disarmed an enemy machine gun post at Guyencourt France on March 27 1917. He later won the Military Cross and a French Honour, The Croix de Guerre.
When the First World War ended he stayed in the Canadian Army and in 1939 became Brigadier General and Commander of the 13th Alberta Military District retiring in December 1945 shortly after the end of World War 2. He maintained an interest in horses as a show judge and served as an honorary Colonel of his old horse regiment. He died Aged 91 in 1990 and is buried in Alberta, Canada.
His Victoria cross and other medals are on display in The Lord Strathcona’s Horse Regiment Museum, Calgary, Canada.