Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From "A goodly heritage" (http://www.cocker.id.au/)

Pte Percy Alexander Harvey was born on 29 Oct 1894 in Black Hills, Osmaston, Tasmania and died on 10 Aug 1938 in Launceston at age 43. He served in the First World War.

Percy married Lillie Isabel McHugh, daughter of John McHugh and Elizabeth May Young, on 27 Dec 1921 in Launceston. Lillie was born on 22 Jun 1893 in Ulverstone, Tasmania, died on 26 Jun 1974 in Launceston at age 81, and was buried on 28 Jun 1974 in Carr Villa, D1/258.

They had three children:
Corrie Isabel
Mavis Edith and
Mary Jennette

Biography: Private Percy Alexander Harvey by grandson Andrew

Percy Alexander Harvey wasted little time thinking about whether to volunteer for the First World War. He enlisted locally on 20 August 1914, just two weeks after Britain declared war and he reported to the Pontville training camp ten days later where he took the oath and formally joined C Squadron of the Third Light Horse Regiment. [1] He served on foot at Gallipoli before returning to Egypt to fight on horseback. Injury, suffering and the extended extreme weather conditions all took a heavy toll on his health, which ultimately failed him, but helped shape his spiritual beliefs towards an abhorrence of aggression and competition and towards social responsibility and collaborative care for others.

He was born to a Scottish immigrant father and a Tasmanian-born mother at Black Hills, Osmaston, Tasmania on 29 October 1894 [2] . His father was a hardworking and successful farmer in the relatively isolated rural community of West Kentish with a penchant for lay preaching and reading Shakespeare aloud. [3]

Percy had been a serving volunteer member of the Light Horse Militia for some two years and undoubtedly yearned to see more of the world and what it had to offer. [4] His squadron left Hobart on HMAT A2 Geelong on 20 October, disembarking in Egypt on 9 December 1914. [5]

Mounted troops were not required at Gallipoli, so the 3rd Light Horse Regiment volunteered to operate as infantry and arrived there on 12 May 1915. [6] They played a defensive role in the Gallipoli campaign, and finally left on 14 December 1915. [7]

Percy's older brother James Francis (Frank) Harvey enlisted on 18 Sep 1914 as a driver in the Field Artillery Brigade 3, Reinforcement 1. [8] Their younger brother Edward Thomas Harvey (Ted) enlisted on 21 July 1915 in the 9th reinforcement of the 3rd Light Horse. [9] On arrival in Egypt, Ted transferred to Frank's regiment and by good fortune they were both together at the same time that Percy returned from Gallipoli. Ted wrote to his father:

"Poor old Percy was very excited when he saw us. He looks tip-top. We saw him the first night he got back from the Peninsula. He only had two days' spell in Egypt when he was started off to action, on his horse this time. … He has had some very narrow escapes." [10]

Percy's regiment reformed as mounted troops and within a fortnight had been deployed to defend Egyptian economic centres throughout the Nile Valley. The conditions were hot, dry and exhausting with daily dust storms and water shortages. [11] After enduring four months of action, Percy succumbed and on 29 April 1916 was admitted to the 1st Light Horse Ambulance Hospital at Girga for 37 days suffering pyrexia (a form of heat exhaustion) before returning to his regiment on 5 June 2016. [12]

On 8 Jan 1917 the Regiment left El Arish for Rafah which, prior to the war, had been the site of the Egyptian Police Post between the border of Egypt and Palestine. The Turks held control, courtesy of a large, bald and heavily entrenched hill which enabled them to defend it with heavy rifle and machine gun fire. The town was taken but not before ten died and 49, including Percy, were wounded. [13]

He received two gunshot wounds to his arm and some shell shrapnel also penetrated his thigh. He spent a month in various hospitals until transferred to hospital in Abbassia, Cairo where he recuperated for a further two months. He was discharged, suitable for light duties and transferred to the 1st Light Horse Training Regiment in Moascar on 10 March 1917. He then undertook two months of training at the School of Instruction, Zeitoun, where he completed the 20th Signalling Course before returning to the 3rd Light Horse Regiment at Marakeb on 21 June 2017. [14]

The entire Anzac Mounted Division had, by then, relocated to Marakeb which provided a less hazardous environment to enable the men to re-group and conduct regular sorties. However, Percy failed to recover and was showing early signs of shell shock, better known today as post-traumatic stress disorder. He was hospitalised for tonsillitis, surgery for a painful varicocele (agony on horseback) and finally on 3 February 1918 he was transferred to the Desert Corps Rest Camp at Port Said where he was transferred to a staff position. [15]

He wrote from Port Said:

My Dear Mother

"Did you get my last letter [20 Feb 1918] telling you I have been made permanent base. … Mrs Bisdee is in here during the day. She is the wife of Major Bisdee VC. … They say they are going to look after me now and feed me up a bit. But I am not anxious to stay. I want to come home for a while … I will be quite willing to come back and do a bit more after I have had a few months at home." [16]

He vomited after most meals, had lost a great deal of weight with well-marked debility and tachycardia and he became breathless and tremulous at any exertion. [17] He was classified as "B2 Debility and D.A.H." (permanent base light duties). [18] In May 1918 he was recommended for six months' disability but found not to be permanently incapacitated. He left the war aboard the Port Darwin at Suez on 11 July 1918 and was discharged, medically unfit on 20 September 1918. [19]

Percy struggled to find his feet on his return. He returned to the family farm at West Kentish but was physically unable to undertake strenuous work. He continued to suffer severe breathlessness upon exertion and a range of digestive system issues. [20] He had developed an interest in radio from his army training in Signalling and he initially teamed up with his sister's fiancé, Claude Priest, riding a motor bike around the Devonport district, selling radios or family portraits. [21]

Percy's experiences strengthened his religious and social convictions and he became an active lay preacher with the Methodist Church (as was his father and many before him). He was a deep thinker and keen reader on social and religious matters and a keen advocate of the TOC H movement which had emerged from the horrors of the battlefields of Ypres. [22] It was through the church that he met and married Lillie McHugh and after they married in 1921, they took up the offer of a soldier settlement at Ferndale, Sisters Creek on the North West Coast of Tasmania.

In 1925 they were forced to walk off with nothing, like many others. During this period his partial war service pension was cancelled because he failed to report as ordered for a medical examination to which had no way of getting. [23]

They took up residence with Lillie's mother in Launceston and Percy tried with varying success a range of occupations as a builder's labourer, outdoor salesman, storeman and life insurance salesman. [24] Although quite successful at the latter, he quit because it troubled his conscience. [25] He ultimately opened a retail radio shop in Launceston. [26]

His abhorrence at the futility of war had sharpened his social conscience and he wanted a world governed through collaboration and respect and support for all. In 1937 he stood as an Independent for State Parliament on a platform of social conscience. [27] He spurned the offer of a safe Labour seat because he wanted to see co-operation and collaboration in politics, not competition. On 10 August 1938 he succumbed to his health issues, dying of "deep seated pneumonia", a kind and gentle man, whose war experiences drove him to strive to make the world a kinder place. [28]

His wife’s desperate appeals for a war service widows pension were denied and she was left to raise and educate their three young daughters on her own.