Folkestone celebrates William Harvey

12.42.38pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 9th Jun 2007

William Harvey

Sunday 10 June sees Folkestone mark one of its most famous citizens with the annual William Harvey Commemoration.

William Harvey was born in Folkestone on 1 April 1578, one of seven sons. He went to school in Canterbury and studied in Cambridge and Italy before becoming a doctor and a lecturer in London. His area of research was the circulation of the blood and the way the heart works. His book, 'Concerning the motion of the heart and blood in animals' was published in 1628.

In Folkestone there is a statue of William Harvey on the Leas. When Harvey died (on 3 June 1657) he left money in his will for the founding of a boys' school in Folkestone which opened in 1674: the Harvey Grammar School has had a continuous history to the present day.

Folkestone Mayor Peter Gane, Town Councillors and others will process from the Burlington Hotel on Earls Avenue to the William Harvey statue on the Leas arriving at 3pm.