31 December 1858 – 6 November 1922
Alexander Gordon Cummins Harvey was a Rochdale cotton manufacturer,merchant and Liberal politician.
Member of Parliament for Rochdale 1906–1918
Gordon Harvey (as he was usually known) was born in Manchester and was the son of Cummins Harvey, a partner in the cotton yarn and cloth manufacturing firm of Fothergill and Harvey. Gordon Harvey himself went on to become the head of an important firm of cotton spinners, manufacturers and merchants with mills at Littleborough and offices and warehouses in Manchester.
In politics Gordon was a solid Liberal and was Chairman of Middleton Division Liberal Association, Harvey was elected to Lancashire County Council in the year after its creation and was later made an Alderman of the county. He remained chairman of the county education committee up until the time of his death. He also served as a Justice of the Peace in Lancashire.
Despite taking the anti-war side Harvey still managed to come within 19 votes of beating the sitting Conservative MP, Clement Royds. At a later date, Harvey was eventually elected as MP for Rochdale at the 1906 general election, beating Clement Royds by nearly 1500 votes. Clement Royds was a prominant local banker who had held the seat since 1895.
Harvey was obliged to stand down from Parliament during the 1918 general election because of a disease in his throat, presumably cancer. He underwent two operations as a result but lost his fight with the disease and died in Windermere aged 63.
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