Doctor William Harvey was the eldest son of Thomas Harvey, of Folkestone, by his second wife Joan Halke. He was born at Folkestone on the 1st of April, 1578. His father is described as a Jurat or Alderman, of Folkestone, where he was elected to the Office and Dignity of Mayor in the year 1600. Beyond this Thomas Harvey, the family genealogy lapses into trackless obscurity; although he is considered by a Genealogist of the Harveys as 'apparently descended from or of the same branch 'of the family as Sir Walter Harvey, "Pepperer" Warden 'or Mayor of London 1272-3 who bore like arms,' - but of this vague relationship, which probably the Doctor himself never heard of, there is no satisfactory evidence.<br><br>Thomas Harvey was undoubtedly a highly respectable person as Burgess, Alderman and Mayor of Folkestone, which was then a small fishing town with a more or less romantic trade in smuggling, where he was probably engaged in some business occupation. By his second Wife Joan, whom he wedded in the year 1577, he had seven sons and two daughters, of whom Doctor Harvey was the eldest.