HARVEY, Michael (1694-1748), of Coombe, Surr. and Clifton Maybank, nr. Milborne Port, Dorset.

Michael Harvey, a Tory like his father, ruined himself by successive contests at Milborne Port, which he represented for a quarter of a century. His name was sent to the Pretender in 1721 as a probable supporter in the event of a rising.1Stuart mss 65/16. In 1743 a private Act was passed vesting his Leicestershire estates in trustees for the discharge of encumbrances on his Surrey estates. He was also forced to mortgage his Clifton estate and his property at Milborne Port to Peter Walter. In 1747 he was unseated by the House of Commons on a double return at Milborne Port, the merits of the election, as distinct from those of the return, being referred by the House to the elections committee, which had not reported when he died of apoplexy, 3 Oct. 1748. Peter Walter foreclosed on the Clifton and Milborne Port properties shortly before his death, after which his Surrey estates were sold.2Hutchins, Dorset, iv. 122-3.