Born in Penzance on 20 May 1874 (GRO), the son of Francis McFarland Harvey, a bank clerk and Mary (née Bellringer). His primary education was at home, and then he studied art first with Norman GARSTIN, in Paris at Academie Julian 1894-96, and Academie Colarossi and Atelier Delecluse in 1896.  On returning to Penzance in the late 1890s, he worked again with Garstin before he married the artist Gertrude Bodinnar HARVEY in 1911. He painted in both watercolour and oils depictions of Cornish life and landscapes, later changing to interiors and religious subjects set against local backgrounds. A full page detail from his painting St Just Tin Miners is included on page 130 of the Public Catalogue Foundation's review of oil paintings in public ownership (PCF, 2007) in Cornwall. It is held by the Royal Cornwall Museum in their permanent collection.

Together with Ernest PROCTER, his 'best friend', he ran one of the several painting schools in the area from 1920 . His residences in the area include 20 North Parade and 5 Trewartha Terrace, both in Penzance, up until his marriage, and then Maen Cottage at Newlyn until his death. Amongst his particular friends was the Vicar of St Hilary, Fr Bernard Walke, whose wife Annie FEARON was also an artist, and Harvey produced some paintings for the Church at St Hilary. Other close friends were Laura KNIGHT and Harold KNIGHT and the artists of the Lamorna Valley set. His conversion to Catholicism occurred later in life. He died on 19 May, 1941, age 67, in Newlyn, and he is buried in the RC section of the Heamoor Cemetery in Penzance.