Lionel de Jersey Harvard

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Lionel de Jersey Harvard (3 June 1893 – 30 March 1918) was an Englishman who was linked to Harvard University through its founder, John Harvard. He became the first member of his family to attend Harvard College and completed his degree in 1915. Three years after graduating, he died in World War I, leaving a wife and a young son.

Background
Lionel was born in Lewisham, London. His family traced their ancestry to John Harvard, the founder of Harvard College. In 1908, Harvard alumni helped fund his education there, and he eventually traveled to the United States to study in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He initially failed the entrance exam but, after a year of study, passed and began his Harvard career.

Harvard College
At Harvard, Lionel studied English and was active in campus life. He was popular among classmates and joined several clubs, including the Glee Club and various social and literary groups. He earned a cum laude degree in English in June 1915 and was chosen to compose both the Class Poem and the Baccalaureate Hymn for that year’s Commencement. He also performed in a pageant celebrating Hollis Hall and forged strong ties with his peers, who affectionately nicknamed him “John Harvard” after a recent pageant performance.

Army, marriage, and death
After leaving Harvard, Lionel returned to London and joined the British Army. He married May Barker in September 1915, and the couple had a son, John Peter de Jersey Harvard, born in 1916. Lionel served in the Grenadier Guards, rising from second lieutenant to lieutenant and later taking command of a company in France. He was wounded in 1916 but returned to action in 1917. On 30 March 1918, during the German spring offensive near Arras, he was killed by a minenwerfer shell. He was buried at Boisleux-au-Mont.

Tributes and legacy
Lionel’s death was mourned by Harvard President Abbott Lawrence Lowell, who called it a great personal loss. Lowell later funded Lionel Hall in his memory, and in 1923 the Associated Harvard Clubs established the Lionel de Jersey Harvard Scholarship to support a year of study at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, for a Harvard graduate. A hymn in Lionel’s memory was published in 1919, and his story continued to be told in Harvard alumni circles. His family’s memory is preserved in school memorials and in the scholarship named after him, which continues to honor his legacy of study and service.