F. W. (Frederick William) Harvey

Born in Hartpury, Gloucestershire, in 1888, Frederick William Harvey was widely known as Will Harvey. He became one of the best-loved English poets of the First World War era, and was also a solicitor and later a broadcaster. His writing is closely linked with Gloucestershire, whose landscapes, speech, and people remained central to his work throughout his life.

During the First World War he served with the Gloucestershire Regiment, won the Distinguished Conduct Medal for bravery, and was later captured and held as a prisoner of war in Germany. Poems written during and around these years helped build his reputation, giving his work a rare mix of lyric beauty, humor, homesickness, and hard-earned feeling.

After the war, Harvey continued to write while working in law and broadcasting, and he remained an important literary voice in the west of England. He died in 1957, but his poems still stand out for their musical ease, emotional directness, and enduring sense of place.