Thomas Harvey was born in England and arrived in colonial North Carolina by 1670, settling in Perquimans Precinct. A justice of the Albemarle County Court in 1683, he later served as a member of the North Carolina Colonial Council in 1684, 1687, and from 1690 to 1694. From July 1694 to 1695, Harvey served as the colony's acting governor until John Archdale arrived to take his commission. Harvey died in Perquimans on July 3, 1699.