John Harvey (ironfounder)


John Harvey was a Cornishman whose career started as a blacksmith and engineer at Carnhell Green near Hayle, in west Cornwall. In 1779 he established a foundry and engineering works at Hayle called Harvey & Co. By 1800 the company employed more than 50 people and continued to grow as Harvey worked with many of the great Cornish engineers and entrepreneurs of the day. These included Richard Trevithick, William West, and, more importantly, Arthur Woolf. In 1797, Harvey's daughter, Jane, married Richard Trevithick.
Harvey & Co. built up a reputation for world class stationary beam engines designed to pump water out of the deep Cornish tin and copper mines. The Cornish beam engine became world-famous and was exported overseas, and remains the largest type of beam engine ever constructed; the largest of all, with a cylinder which powered eight separate beams, was used to drain the Haarlemmermeer in the Netherlands—it is preserved in the Museum De Cruquius.
Harvey's also produced a range of products, from hand tools to ocean-going ships including the. The company was expanded by John's son, Henry, in collaboration with Arthur Woolf, who was the chief engineer. At that time it was the main mining engine foundry in the world, with an international market served through their own port at Foundry Town, Hayle.
Harvey's of Hayle reached their peak in the early- to mid-19th century and then, along with the Cornish mining industry in general, suffered a gradual and slow decline. Harvey's acquired the Cornish Copper Company in 1875. The engineering works and foundry were closed in 1903, although the company continued to trade as a general and builders merchant, eventually merging with UBM to become Harvey-UBM in 1969.

List of ships

ShipGRTYard NoForDate of launch
Henry Harvey23 May 1857
Cornubia589Hayle and Bristol Steam Packet Company27 February 1858
1241860
MinrosCharles Henry Smith of Swansea22 April 1860
Penair2131862
Royal Bride286March 1863
Welsh Girl1 August 1863
Cornish Girl175Porthleven United Shipping CompanyApril 1864
Eliza Bain300Hitchens, Bain and Company12 November 1864
175Mr. Hitchens of St Agnes24 June 1865
2876 September 1865
232June 1866
22925 October 1866
353Tom Mawr Company of Neath10 June 1867
Unnamed Brigantine214Captain H Thomas of St Ives21 June 1867
181William Johns of St Ives21 May 1868
Hannibal370Captain Hannibal Thomas1868
South Devon Railway Company24 July 1869
104Dartmouth Steam Packet Company7 September 1869
30627 May 1870
118J.B. Mansfield of Teignmouth8 September 1871
398George Batters of London29 March 1873
38016 May 1874
152West Cornwall Steam Ship Company9 March 1875
W. Jewell of Falmouth10 June 1875
T.S.B.289Thomas Bolitho and Sons, Penzance5 November 1877
289February 1878
11015 April 1879
27525October 1880
10629July 1880
30626January 1881
11432July 1883
10333August 1883
12036October 1884
14842Thomas Bolitho and Sons, PenzanceJune 1887
3403922 August 1888
65543Whiteway and Ball or Torquay9 August 1888
38245West Cornwall Steamship Company2 February 1889
154461889
17504724 October 1889
197848R.B.Chellew3 July 1890
203349R.B. Chellew12 December 1890
2660516 June 1891
53952Welsford and Company23 September 1891
5365330 November 1891
536541892
36155Rogers and Bright of Liverpool25 July 1892
4235620 March 1893