G. E. Harvey

G. E. Harvey
Born
Godfrey Eric Harvey

1889[1]
Died29 August 1962(1962-08-29) (aged 73)
OccupationHistorian
SpouseStella Hope Garratt
ChildrenCharles Nigel Harvey
Daphne Harvey
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
Academic work
DisciplineSoutheast Asian History
Sub-disciplineBurmese history

Godfrey Eric Harvey (1889 – 29 August 1962) was a British diplomat, historian and academic, specializing in Burmese history.[2] He is best known for his seminal books on Burmese history, including History of Burma, which was published in 1925 and known for its Burmese chronicle perspective.[3]

Life

He was the son of Edward Godfrey Harvey, who had a career in the House of Commons Library, and his Dutch wife Martine (or Martha) Antoinette van Kuyk, who were married in December 1885;[4][5][6] his younger brother Edward Leon Harvey was a historian at the University of New Brunswick.[7]

Harvey was educated at Aldenham School and Exeter Grammar School, and London University.[8] Suffering from a lung complaint, Harvey did not complete a degree at London University. Taking the Indian Civil Service examination, he gained an administrative position in Burma, and learned the language.[2]

On sick leave in 1920, Harvey studied in Oxford, and obtained a BLitt degree from University of Oxford in 1922. His dissertation was published by Longmans in 1925.[2]

Harvey became a lecturer in Burmese history and law at the University of Oxford from 1936 to 1942.[2] He was president of the Oxford University Anthropological Society in the 1940s.[9] After World War II, he retired and lived in Oxford.[2]

Publications

Family

Harvey married in 1914, in Colombo, Stella Hope Garratt, daughter of the Rev. Charles Foster Garratt (formerly vicar of Little Tew), and sister of Geoffrey Garratt.[10][11][12][13] They had one son and one daughter.[8]

References

  1. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e Aung, Htin (October 1975). "Three Unpublished Papers by Harvey" (PDF). Journal of the Burma Research Society. LVIII part 1. The Society: 1–7.
  3. ^ Tarling, Nicholas (1999). The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-66370-0.
  4. ^ "Fashionable Intelligence". Cork Constitution. 2 December 1885. p. 3.
  5. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
  6. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
  7. ^ Who's who in Canada. International Press. 1927. p. 100.
  8. ^ a b Edward Martell; L. G. Pine; Alberta Lawrence, eds. (1978). Who was who Among English and European Authors, 1931-1949. Vol. 1. Gale Research Company. p. 655. ISBN 978-0-8103-0040-8.
  9. ^ Woolf, Daniel R.; Macintyre, Stuart; Feldherr, Andrew; Hardy, Grant; Maiguashca, Juan; Hesketh, Ian; Pók, Attila (2011). The Oxford History of Historical Writing: 1800-1945. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-953309-1.
  10. ^ "Local News". Worcester Daily Times and Journal. 7 November 1912. p. 2.
  11. ^ Foster, Joseph (1888–1891). "Garratt, Charles Foster" . Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: James Parker – via Wikisource.
  12. ^ "Personal". Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette. 12 June 1914. p. 12.
  13. ^ Honda, Takehiko. "Garratt, Geoffrey Theodore (1888–1942)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/39642. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)