Tommy Harvey

Tommy Harvey was born in the Strand district of London; his father worked as a porter at Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith. He was one of five siblings; one of his brothers, George also was a competitive cyclist whom he competed alongside in his early years. During World War I, Harvey served with the Royal Sussex Regiment, and in 1919 returned to a cycling career that had been interrupted by the hostilities, when he took part in the Southern Counties’ Cycle Union Victory meeting. The following year he was originally selected as a reserve for both the track events and road race at the Antwerpen Olympics. Even one week before the Great Britain team left for the Games, Harvey was still a reserve, but he was called up for the 50km race as a late replacement for Albert White who chose to concentrate on the sprint and team pursuit.

Harvey won the British tandem title in 1921 and 1922 with Harry Ryan, and in 1923 finished fourth in the NCU 5-mile Championship at Shepherd’s Bush. That same year, Harvey won a 3-mile scratch race in front of 10,000 spectators, in a meeting organized by the Italian Athletic and Cycling Club. The runner-up in the Middlesex 1-mile Championship in 1924, Harvey then went to his second Olympics, when he was Frederick Habberfield’s partner in the tandem but, sadly, the pair were eliminated in their heat. Harvey later followed his father’s profession, working at the same hospital as a porter, then as a laboratory assistant. He later became a motorcycle enthusiast in his later life, owning several models of Zenith motorcycles. He married at the age of 22 and had one daughter, and later remarried twice after being widowed in 1926. Harvey resided in Wimbledon, London until his death in 1965 at age 76.