The son of a Stirling watchmaker and jeweller, Harvey settled in Glasgow, working initially in the St Rollox laboratory, then in the Barrowfield printworks. Here he married one of the manager's daughters. In 1838 he established a dyeworks at Govanhaugh, and his increased standing led to his appointment as a bailie of the Gorbals, then to the Glasgow Town Council.
An enthusiasm for music saw him instrumental in establishing the first musical festival in Glasgow, and he was a founder member (and first honorary president) of the Glasgow Choral Union. He was also active in the Glasgow Art Union, the Glasgow Philosophical Society, Stirling's Library, the Gorbals Benevolent Society, the Stirlingshire Benevolent Society and the Glasgow Humane Society. He played a role in the construction of the Glasgow Green suspension bridge, following a ferry accident at that point.
He died on 9 December 1876.
ALEXANDER HARVEY'S surroundings were, for the most part, commonplace. He had travelled little, had undergone few adventures, and had encountered nothing of the vicissitude which sometimes makes truth stranger than fiction. Yet his life, in its simplicity, and in its worthy aims, was not without a certain fine interest; and any faithful delineation of the man may furnish at least a cabinet picture on which it may not be unprofitable to dwell.
Mr. Harvey was born at St. Ninian's, near Stirling. His father was a watchmaker and jeweller in the county town, and Alexander followed the paternal calling, in which he would doubtless manifest the skill and taste for which he was afterwards distinguished. While a mere lad occupied in this way, he evinced a scientific and practical turn of mind of unusual force by contriving, in the absence of the old gentleman, to light up the shop with coal-gas. This was a novel achievement in those days, and created much astonishment among the "sons of the Rock." But however clever as an experiment, it was not otherwise fortunate. The process of purifying the gas had not been discovered. It infected the air, tarnished the silver, might possibly destroy the health, and was speedily, though reluctantly, abandoned. A younger brother displayed not only talent but genius in another direction. He established himself as an artist in Edinburgh - aspired to the mantle of his great countryman, David Wilkie - painted the "Covenanters' Preaching," the "Schule-Scaling," the "Battle of Drumclog," the "Curlers," and other masterly pictures - and rose, by steady gradation, to be Sir George Harvey, President of the Royal Scottish Academy.
While George was thus acquiring fame and social position in the Scottish capital, Alexander had settled in Glasgow, quietly devoting himself to business, growing in worldly substance with the growth of the great city, earning a leisure which he largely devoted to the service of his fellow-citizens, and contenting himself with the distinction of adorning our local magistracy, and developing qualities both of head and heart entitling him to no mean place in the Valhalla of these homely chronicles.
Mr. Harvey's early bias was towards chemistry. It was the rising science of his youth-time. He became a favourite pupil and assistant of Dr. Thomas Thomson, the first and most eminent occupant of the Chemical Chair in the Glasgow University. For some time afterwards he found congenial occupation in the laboratory of St. Rollox. While thus engaged he entered into matrimony. The event came about in this wise. Between St. Rollox and the extensive print-works of Messrs. Henry Monteith & Co., at Barrowfield, Bridgeton, the business transactions were numerous. Mr. Harvey became intimate with the excellent manager of the latter establishment, Mr. Rodger, and was soon a frequent and welcome visitor at his pleasant residence on the northern bank of the Clyde above Rutherglen Bridge. The result was not only a happy union with one of Mr. Rodger's daughters, but the appointment of Mr. Harvey to an important position in the management of Barrowfield Works, for which he was admirably fitted, not less by his ability as a chemist, than by the courtesy and good sense which enabled him to win the affection and confidence of the large body of workers in the place.
It may naturally be supposed that the brothers Harvey were mutually interested and helpful in regard to the progress which each was making in the world. There was no Edinburgh and Glasgow railway in the days of which we speak; but the rising artist must have been an occasional traveller to Glasgow by the old four-in-hand coach, for a certain aged woman at Barrowfield gate, whose features had attracted his notice, or to whom he had been directed by his brother, figured prominently in one of his great Covenanting pictures. When this work came to be engraved, it was said that the grand-children of the venerable dame were in the habit of flattening their noses on the window panes of the Glasgow print shops in which the well-known portrait of "Grannie" was exhibited.
The next important step in the career of Mr. Alexander Harvey was in 1838, when he set up a dye-work at Govanhaugh, on the south side of the river, opposite the Humane Society House, and thus started business on his own account. His scientific training gave him immense advantages, and he gradually took a leading position in the trade, first in the manipulation of Turkey red, and afterwards of fancy dyes. During this period of enterprise and hope his reputation as a practical chemist, both in the way of acquirement and discovery, was of a high order, and thus was laid, through his own originality and diligence, as well as by his upright character, the foundation of that material prosperity which enabled him, while yet in his early prime, to become locally a public man.
His first labour outside his own vocation was in the capacity of a Commissioner and Bailie of the Burgh of Gorbals. In the service of the Gorbalonians he continued until 1846, when the extension of the Glasgow municipality put an end to the suburban jurisdiction. He had, however, given the public "a taste of his quality," and he was not long permitted to remain in seclusion. Within two years, in response to an urgent appeal, he was induced to enter the larger field of the Glasgow Town Council as a representative of the Fourth Ward, which then included the district in which Govanhaugh Dyework was situated. Assiduous in his attention to the interests of his constituents and the city, his faithful service was continued, through the various gradations of Town Councillor, Depute River Bailie, River Bailie, and Burgh Magistrate for fifteen years, when he finally retired to the enjoyment of the dignified but not onerous post of Bailie of Provan, which he held to the close of his life.
The topography of the Barony of Provan need not be explained here. Some two centuries ago the property, which is situated in the north-eastern district, was acquired by the Corporation, and with it the privilege of appointing a bailie who was originally a high functionary of the district. For generations past the Bailie of Provan has had no more to do in the way of official duty than the Stewards of the Chiltern Hundreds. The office is purely honorary. It is still, however, preserved as bestowing a title which is given in compliment to some venerable emeritus magistrate, either as an acknowledgement of length of active service, or of some unique qualities deserving of municipal laureation.
It would be no easy matter to estimate with accuracy the amount and description of work engaged in by Bailie Harvey during his fifteen years' active connection with municipal affairs. His value to the city was felt rather than noted. The credit, however, which he did not seek found him out. Although capable of expressing himself sufficiently well when required, he had no pretensions to oratory. He had nothing of the gift of tongue which makes men conspicuous in debate, and no man ever showed less desire to push himself to the front. Yet, while not born to be a leader in great movements, his mind was singularly suggestive; and not only his strong common sense, but his indefatigable working zeal, rendered him a power in the municipality in all the operations which have in recent times contributed to make Glasgow famous. Most of these will be referred to in detail under other names; but no record of our Water Gravitation, City Improvement, and other important schemes illustrative of the growth and development of our vast "hive of industry" would be complete without at least this passing and grateful mention of one who fought valiantly in the rank and file of local enterprise while shunning the honours of generalship.
Simultaneously with the more remarkable achievements in which he took part, Bailie Harvey was a leader in various minor, but still important matters. To his passion for scientific pursuits he added an enthusiasm for music and the arts. Early in life he had built an organ with his own hands for his private residence; and at a later date he laboured with success to obtain for the public an organ, on a large scale, in the City Hall. He was at the getting-up of the first Musical Festival in Glasgow. Of the Glasgow Choral Union he was one of the originators. The latter body selected him for its first honorary president, and he afterwards became its honorary vice-president, to which office he was again and again re-elected. Scottish song was his delight, but his sympathies were wide and catholic. He induced Mr. H. A. Lambeth, whose abilities he recognized, to settle in Glasgow; and he laboured in various other ways to promote the cultivation of a high musical taste among his townsmen. A pioneer in this movement, he lived to witness its triumph. He had a warm corner in his heart for the worship of all the muses. The Glasgow Art Union had in him a constant office-bearer and supporter. Of the Andersonian University, the Glasgow Philosophical Society, and Stirling's Library, he was long an active manager. To the Gorbals Benevolent Society, the Stirlingshire Benevolent Society, and the Glasgow Humane Society, he devoted much of his time. Consequent on the lamentable ferry-boat accident at the Green, which some of our older readers may recall, he was instrumental in getting the Suspension Bridge erected at the point of the river where the crossing was most frequent and crowded at meal hours, and for that and other services he was rewarded with a public testimonial. It would be difficult, indeed, to mention a good cause, a useful institution, or a deserving charity within the boundaries of Glasgow in the promotion or the prosperity of which he did not more or less strenuously assist.
But work of this kind, praiseworthy as it is, cannot be pronounced rare. Glasgow has never been without a host of zealous and efficient public men; and where good services are of everyday occurrence they lose their claim to be particularly regarded. The hundred selected names in this volume might be indefinitely multiplied. We owe much to the shrewdness, the industry, and the public spirit of those who have served, and are still serving, the community and the commonwealth in notable undertakings. Yet we look for other qualities in the prophets whose tombs we are desirous to build. Bailie Harvey furnished an example of such a gracious and honourable personality as to place him, as it were, on a pedestal by himself. The rivalries of business never took the fine edge from his integrity and scrupulousness. He cultivated tastes like Gilbert White, and prosecuted pleasures like Izaak Walton. A walk with him in the country was educational; a ramble by the river or the loch was a happiness to be remembered. He was an authority among those who "cast angles into the brooks"; assisted to naturalize the grayling in the Clyde; and was one of the most genial members of the West of Scotland Piscatorial brotherhood in those annual symposia at which they were accustomed to fight their battles over again, and arrange for fresh contests by the streams and tarns of their picturesque native land.
It was a peculiarity of Bailie Harvey that, on the occasion of the Burns' Club monthly suppers, at which during many years he was a regular and welcome guest, he was always the first to leave, no matter how the fun might be at its height. He had sat upon the bench and administered the Forbes McKenzie Act, and no temptation would induce him to countenance or be present at a sederunt one moment after eleven p.m. In vain would Macnee appeal to him to "allow for the variation of clocks." The retreating Bailie was not to be cajoled, but uniformly disappeared in obedience to his chronometer and his conscience.
An illustration may be given in this place of Bailie Harvey's regard for the veracities even in matters trivial. The saying "Once a bailie always a bailie" had no meaning for him. Whenever, therefore, he ceased to be a bailie he refused to allow himself to be called by that title. In other words, he politely but deprecatingly corrected the mistake. His ultimate election to the Bailieship of Provan invested him with a bona fide right to the designation, and saved him ever afterwards from the necessity of modest remonstrance.
But even in regard to well-merited distinctions the Bailie was generally shy and fastidious. There was something of bashfulness and mauvaise honte in his bearing. He required to be brought out; and such was the fascination of his very reserve that he was seldom permitted to remain much or long in the shade. In the Town Council and at public meetings his forte was not the speech which is silvern but the silence which is golden. He never took part in "a scene," or cared to make sport for the Philistines. But few leading citizens were more consulted. To have him on any particular side was a moral guarantee of strength, if not always an assurance of victory. Integrity and shrewd insight were in all cases his instinctive guides. Under the surface he thus wielded a peculiar influence. One result was that even while he seemed to shun reputation he substantially won it, with the addition of all the kindly colouring which the imagination imparts to merit partially veiled.
The annual inspection of the Clyde lighthouses was one of the civic events of the year. It comprised the river and municipal authorities, sundry of the city clergy, the officers who chanced to be in garrison, and a sprinkling of strangers usually of some celebrity. Chat, laughter, anecdote, weather prophecies, and admiration of the scenery buzzed about the deck. On such occasions Bailie Harvey rarely failed to be delightful, and was often seen as the centre of some interested little group. When a landing took place at any of the lighthouses he was especially in his element, his knowledge of geology, botany, and natural history being brought into frequent requisition, and lending a peculiar charm and value to his conversation.
Mr. Harvey was a Justice of the Peace for the Lower Ward of Lanarkshire; a juror for the Great Exhibitions of 1851 and 1861; and a director of the Tharsis Sulphur and Copper Company, whose mines in Spain he visited before his death, which took place on the 9th of December, 1876, when he was aged nearly seventy-eight years.
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