# 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 144-inch-diameter (3,700 mm) 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 USS Cornubia. 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

| Ship | GRT | Yard No | For | Date of launch |
| Henry Harvey | | | | 23 May 1857 |
| Cornubia | 589 | | Hayle and Bristol Steam Packet Company | 27 February 1858 |
| SS Riviere | 124 | | | 1860 |
| Minros | | | Charles Henry Smith of Swansea | 22 April 1860 |
| Penair | 213 | | | 1862 |
| Royal Bride | 286 | | | March 1863 |
| Welsh Girl | | | | 1 August 1863 |
| Cornish Girl | 175 | | Porthleven United Shipping Company | April 1864 |
| Eliza Bain | 300 | | Hitchens, Bain and Company | 12 November 1864 |
| SS St Agnes | 175 | | Mr. Hitchens of St Agnes | 24 June 1865 |
| SS Bessie | 287 | | | 6 September 1865 |
| SS Margaret | 232 | | | June 1866 |
| SS Western Wave | 229 | | | 25 October 1866 |
| SS Hayle | 353 | | Tom Mawr Company of Neath | 10 June 1867 |
| Unnamed Brigantine | 214 | | Captain H Thomas of St Ives | 21 June 1867 |
| SS Mary Johns | 181 | | William Johns of St Ives | 21 May 1868 |
| Hannibal | 370 | | Captain Hannibal Thomas | 1868 |
| PS Dolphin | | | South Devon Railway Company | 24 July 1869 |
| PS Guide | 104 | | Dartmouth Steam Packet Company | 7 September 1869 |
| SS The Girl of the Period | 306 | | | 27 May 1870 |
| SS Batara Bayon Sree | 118 | | J.B. Mansfield of Teignmouth | 8 September 1871 |
| SS Senor Rostro | 398 | | George Batters of London | 29 March 1873 |
| SS Frank Batters | 380 | | | 16 May 1874 |
| SS Lady of the Isles | 152 | | West Cornwall Steam Ship Company | 9 March 1875 |
| SS Victor | | | W. Jewell of Falmouth | 10 June 1875 |
| T.S.B. | 289 | | Thomas Bolitho and Sons, Penzance | 5 November 1877 |
| SS Penwith | 289 | | | February 1878 |
| SS King’s Bridge Packet | 110 | | | 15 April 1879 |
| SS Thornhill | 275 | 25 | | October 1880 |
| SS Emperor | 106 | 29 | | July 1880 |
| SS Tynron | 306 | 26 | | January 1881 |
| SS Emperor | 114 | 32 | | July 1883 |
| SS Eagle | 103 | 33 | | August 1883 |
| SS Dauntless | 120 | 36 | | October 1884 |
| SS Lanisley | 148 | 42 | Thomas Bolitho and Sons, Penzance | June 1887 |
| SS Carnsew | 340 | 39 | | 22 August 1888 |
| SS Dartmeet | 655 | 43 | Whiteway and Ball or Torquay | 9 August 1888 |
| SS Lyonnesse | 382 | 45 | West Cornwall Steamship Company | 2 February 1889 |
| SS Advance | 154 | 46 | | 1889 |
| SS Tongshan | 1750 | 47 | | 24 October 1889 |
| SS Penwith | 1978 | 48 | R.B.Chellew | 3 July 1890 |
| SS Penpol | 2033 | 49 | R.B. Chellew | 12 December 1890 |
| SS Ramleh | 2660 | 51 | | 6 June 1891 |
| SS Landore | 539 | 52 | Welsford and Company | 23 September 1891 |
| SS Mersey | 536 | 53 | | 30 November 1891 |
| SS Avon | 536 | 54 | | 1892 |
| SS Volney | 361 | 55 | Rogers and Bright of Liverpool | 25 July 1892 |
| SS Hayle | 423 | 56 | | 20 March 1893 |