Educated at Portora Royal School and Ellesmere College,[1] Harvey first arrived in Canada in 1908 where he worked as a surveyor in northern Alberta and High River.

During an attack by his regiment on a village, a party of the enemy ran forward to a wired trench just in front of the village, and opened rapid fire and machine-gun fire at a very close range, causing heavy casualties in the leading troop.

At this critical moment, when the enemy showed no intention whatever of retiring, and fire was still intense, Lt. Harvey, who was in command of the leading troops, ran forward well ahead of his men and dashed at the trench, skilfully manned, jumped the wire, shot the machine-gunner and captured the gun.

In March 1918, Harvey was also awarded the Military Cross for the same action that earned Lieutenant Gordon Flowerdew the VC.

Harvey retired in December 1945, but maintained an active interest in horses as a judge of hunter and jumper competitions.

In 2019, his story along with other Wanderers Victoria Cross recipients Robert Johnston and Thomas Crean was told in a documentary entitled "Mark Our Place" directed and produced by Ashley Morrison.