Sir Arthur Vere Harvey, Baron Prestbury CBE

[SimonRoberts]

Good afternoon

Sir Arthur Vere Harvey was my 2nd cousin (my grandmother's cousin). He was born and brought up in my home village (Kessingland, Suffolk). His ashes are also interred in the churchyard at St Edmunds Church, Kessingland. However, The memorial stone on the family grave has been damaged and a couple of us who have been researching Arthur's life and military service wish to get the stone replaced.

While we have the blessing of the church, we feel we should seek permission from any surviving next-of-kin before we go ahead.

Sir Arthur died at Princess Elizabeth Hospital, St Peter Port, Guernsey on 5th April 1994. At the time of his death he was married to his 5th wife, Lady Carol (nee Cassar-Torregioni) and he had adopted her two daughters from her previous marriage (Charmaine (now Slottsdhal) and Rowena (now Wald)).

Arthur had a son (The Hon Philip William Vere Harvey) from his 2nd marriage to Jacqueline Ann Dunnett, but he died in 1998, and we have been unable to find any information about any other children or grandchildren.

We can find no way of accessing probate records for Guernsey. Are they publicly available on the island? Also, we wondered if there was an obituary or press release regarding the funeral/memorial service on the island. These resources might give us some clues regarding who would have been NoK.

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Simon Roberts

[rosie17]

Hi and welcome to rootschat do you have access to Ancestry as there are 42 tree's on there you could maybe message some of the tree members to see if they can help

Rosie

[KGarrad]

Have you contacted the Guernsey Probate Registry?
https://www.guernseyprobate.gg/

Embedded in that website is:
Copies of Grants of Representation issued in Guernsey

Copies of Grants are available for a fee, upon request.

If he had assets in another jurisdiction, then you could ask there?

[Andy J2022]

Have you got a copy of his son's will?
HARVEY, PHILIP WILLIAM VERE died 27 November 1997; Probate 16 April 1998 9851111236 London

[Andy J2022]

The obituary cutting below posted by the Peerage News blog

[Andy J2022]

It seems possible that his other son was Guy A V Harvey born qtr 3 1947  Chelsea 5c 533.

The cutting below intimates that someone named Ralph Barker had written a biography of Arthur Vere Harvey, although I have been unable to find if it was ever published. It seems probable that this was the same Ralph Barker who was a former RAF radio operator and author of many books on the RAF and other subjects. If this is correct then it may be that. rather than having written a separate biography on Arthur Harvey, what he wrote formed a section or chapter in one of his books.

I imagine that you already know that his older son Philip committed suicide. There is no indication whether Philip was ever married.

[Andy J2022]

A family feud and delay in probate of Arthur's will

[Andy J2022]

Background on Philip's relationship with his fiance

[SimonRoberts]

Many thanks to everyone for all the quick and thorough responses. I will start to follow up all the guidance and advice.

@Rosie 17 - I will be contacting some of the Ancestry Tree owners later this evening.
I was aware that Sir Arthur's son Philip had committed suicide and, yes, he was married (to Julie A nee Roberts).

@ KGarrard - I will be getting in touch with the Guernsey Probate registry in the coming days.

@Andy J2022 -  I have requested a copy of Philip's will. I had never seen the Peerage News blog article, but it is almost exactly the same as the obit in The Independent. It looks like Guy A V Harvey was, indeed, the second son of Arthur and Jacqueline. It's a lead I will be following further. The Ralph Barker biography was on my radar, but I have not been able to locate ba copy yet. Another lead I'll be following.