Henry Auber HARVEY (1824–1910)
His wife Mrs Blanche Barbara HARVEY, née Ellice (1835/6–1919)
St Mary Magdalen section: Row 4a, Grave C61
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
HENRY AUBER HARVEY M.A.
STUDENT OF
CHRIST CHURCH 1843–1869
AND VICAR OF
ST MARY MAGDALEN 1876–1884
WHO DIED JANUARY 26, 1910
AGED 85 YEARS
[THE INSCRIPTION TO HIS WIFE
BLANCHE BARBARA HARVEY
WHO DIED IN 1919 HAS NOW SUNK BELOW
THE LEVEL OF THE SOIL]
The cross that stood on this base is now lying flat on the grave
Henry Auber Harvey was born in Ealing on 15 September 1824, the eldest son of the Revd Henry Harvey and Johanna Maria Auber. He had thirteen siblings: George (1825), Johanna (1827), Mary (1828), Barbara (1829), Edward (1831), Charles (1833), William (1834), Herbert (1835), Robert (1836), Harriet (1837), Augusta (1840), Emily (1841), and Charlotte (1842.
At the time of the 1841 census Henry (15) and two other boys of the same age were pupils in the home of the clergyman James Bliss at Holt, Wiltshire.
Henry Auber Harvey was matriculated at the University of Oxford from Christ Church on 19 October 1842 at the age of 18. He gained his B.A. in 1846, and was a Student (Fellow) of Christ Church until 1869.
At the time of the 1851 census Harvey (26) was lodging at Tewksbury, where he was the Curate of the Abbey Church.
In 1856 he was appointed Vicar of Tring in Hertfordshire, and at the time of the 1861 census, when he was still a bachelor of 36, he was living at the parsonage in Tring with his sister Emily Louisa Harvey (19), born in Bradford, Wiltshire in 1841, and their cook and parlourmaid.
Blanche Barbara Ellice was born in Marylebone, London in 1835/6, the daughter of Robert Ellice and Eliza Courtney. At the time of the 1841 census her father, who was in the army and rose to be a General, was living at the Government House at Mount Wise, Devonport with his wife and three daughters: Georgiana (14), Mary (10), and Blanche herself (5). The family may have been abroad at the time of the 1851 census.
In 1861 Blanche (23), who was described as a gentlewoman, was living with her widowed aunt Mrs Lucy Frances Ellice and her cousins Cecilia and Helen at an apartment in Hampton Court Palace with six servants, including a butler and footman.
In 1869 (reg. third quarter) at St George’s Church, Hanover Square, Henry Auber Harvey married Blanche Barbara Ellice: he was 44, and she was 25. They do not appear to have had any children.
At the time of the 1871 census Henry was still Vicar of Tring, and he and his wife spent census night at the vicarage with their three servants.
Harvey ceased to be Vicar of Tring the following year, and in 1875 he was appointed Vicar of Sandford-on-Thames, a position he held for only one year.
In 1876 he was appointed Vicar of St Mary Magdalen Church in Oxford, and by 1880 he was living at 20 St Giles’s Street (right). He and his wife spent the census night of 1881 here with four servants: a cook, footman, lady’s maid, and housemaid.
Harvey ceased to be Vicar of St Mary Magdalen Church in 1883. In 1884 he donated 144 of his books, mainly on Italian history, to Christ Church.
At the time of the 1891 census he and his wife were paying a visit to a 79-year-old widow, Mrs Emma Bright, who lived at “Stocks” in Aldbury, Hertfordshire and was waited on by nine servants.
In 1901 Henry and Blanche were at home at 20 St Giles’s Street with their own four servants. Henry died there in 1910:
† Henry Auber Harvey died at 20 St Giles’s Street at the age of 85 on 26 January 1910 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 29 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).
His effects came to £16,920 10s. 11d.
His widow Blanche moved to 9 Canterbury Road, where she can be seen alone with three servants on census night. She died there in 1919:
† Mrs Blanche Barbara Harvey née Ellice died at 9 Canterbury Road at the age of 84 on 30 November 1919 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 4 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Mary Magdalen Church).
Her effects came to £23,337 13s. 5d.
Please email stsepulchres@gmail.com
if you would like to add information
These biographies would not have been possible without the outstanding transcription services
provided by the Oxfordshire Family History Society