caption serviceyears branch death_place death_date birth_place allegiance awards battles birth_date rank image article_title name
francis harvey , vc 1892 & ndash ; 1916 22px royal marine light infantry lion 1910 6 , north sea 31 may 1916 -lrb- aged 43 -rrb- upper sydenham , kent united kingdom united kingdom victoria cross '' of heligoland bight • battle of dogger bank • battle ` of jutland first world war '' ' • battle 29 april 1873 major vcfrancisjohnwilliamharvey.jpg francis harvey
 francis john william harvey
francis harvey

major francis john william harvey , vc -lrb- 29 april 1873 -- 31 may 1916 -rrb- was an officer of the british royal marine light infantry during the first world war .
harvey was posthumously awarded the victoria cross , the highest military award for gallantry in the face of the enemy given to british and commonwealth forces , for his actions at the height of the battle of jutland .
a long serving royal marine officer descended of a military family , during his career harvey became a specialist in naval artillery , serving on many large warships as gunnery training officer and gun commander .
specially requested for , the flagship of the british battlecruiser fleet , harvey fought at the battles of heligoland bight , dogger bank and jutland .
at jutland , harvey , although mortally wounded by german shellfire , ordered the magazine of q turret on the battlecruiser `` lion '' to be flooded .
this action prevented the tons of cordite stored there from catastrophically detonating in an explosion that would have destroyed the vessel and all aboard her .
although he succumbed to his injuries seconds later , his dying act may have saved over a thousand lives and prompted winston churchill to later comment : `` in the long , rough , glorious history of the royal marines there is no name and no deed which in its character and consequences ranks above this '' .
