Sir Charles Harvey

Sir Charles Harvey came to live at Rainthorpe Hall following his purchase of the estate in 1878 but he already had family connections to the area. His grandfather, General Sir Robert John Harvey, who had served with distinction as the Duke Of Wellington's ADC in the Peninsula War against Napoleon's army and been knighted for his services, had inherited an estate at Tharston which is why so many of the farms and other properties are named after battles in that campaign. Sir Charles however had not been knighted but had inherited his title as the 2nd Baronet of Crown Point on the death of his father, the 1st Baronet, in 1870.

The family had been prominent citizens of Norwich, firstly as textile merchants in the 1700s and then as joint owners of the Harvey and Hudson Bank which opened in 1801, and it was for services to banking that his father had been awarded a baronetcy, taking its name from the Crown Point estate at Whitlingham which he had purchased. Unfortunately his father lost a lot of the bank's money, speculating on the stock exchange, and committed suicide. The Crown Point estate, including Whitlingham Hall, had to be sold to clear his debts, and was bought by the Colman family, but there were sufficient funds remaining from that and his grandfather's will trust to enable Sir Charles to live a comfortable life as a country landowner. He was also a director of Gurney's Bank which had bought out his family's failed banking operation, and was later to become Barclays Bank.

With these resources he not only bought, but greatly expanded the Rainthorpe estate by the acquisition of farms and other properties in Tasburgh and adjoining villages, but also paid for restorations and improvements to the parish church and supported the school. Although he had sold off outlying farms before he died in 1928, when the remainder of the estate was auctioned the following year it still included virtually all of the land and properties on either side of Saxlingham Lane and Low Road as far as and including the mill, up to and including the hill fort and across to Old Hall Farm and the main road. A memorial to him and his wife can be found on the back wall of the church of which he was also a church warden.

Sir Charles' younger son, Oliver Charles Harvey GCMG, GCVO, CB, joined the Diplomatic Service, and later served as the British Ambassador to France from 1948 to 1954. On leaving office he was granted a life peerage as Baron Harvey of Tasburgh and when he died in 1975 he was buried at St. Mary's Church, Tasburgh, which his father had done so much to preserve.