Notable and Noteworthy Lovelocks

[With acknowledgement to Malcolm Lovelock, who provided quite a lot of additional information.]

Amongst the Lovelocks who have made their mark on local or global affairs are:

James Ephraim Lovelock: James was an independent scientist, inventor and author. He was best known as the originator of the Gaia Hypothesis. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974. For more information see: The Gaia Hypothesis - Lovelock & Margulis, his CV at: http://www.jameslovelock.org/curriculum-vitae/ and an Obituary at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/27/james-lovelock-obituary.



John Edward (Jack) Lovelock (1910 - 1949): Jack was a New Zealand runner who won a gold medal in the 1936  Olympics for the 1500 metres, which he ran in 3minutes 47.8seconds. See the Wikipedia page for Jack Lovelock for more  details, together with photographs.


  
Jack appears in "Jack Lovelock Line - NZ runner" on the Lovelock Trees and Fragments for Other Count(r)ies page. There are also a number of hypothetical links to various Lovelock branches, but the evidence is not conclusive - see the notes on:
Ancestors of John (Jack) Edward Lovelock 1910-1949, NZ Athlete.

Early versions of some Lovelock trees and fragments also postulated links to Jack Lovelock, for example:
Wallingford, Berks, Croydon, Kent, and New Zealand fragment
Hornsey (London) and Yorkshire fragment
Photographs courtesy of Mary J Pipe.


  Photo of William Lovelock William Lovelock (1899 - 1986): William had a distinguished career in music - from 1939 to 1956 he was examiner in music at London University, where from 1954 to 1956 he was also Dean of the Faculty of Music; from 1956 to 1959 he was director of of the Queensland State Conservatorium (sic) of Music. He published numerous textbooks on music theory and the teaching of music.
Further details can be found at: http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/artist/lovelock-william

William Lovelock can be found on the Wallingford Berks Line, married to Winifred Irene Littlejohn. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography their wedding took place on 19 Jul 1926 at The Church of the Ascension, Battersea, London.
[Information provided by Robert Sterry, John Lovelock and Graham Lovelock]

James Balfour Lovelock (1895 - 1982): An article published in the Manchester Evening News of 15 April 1982 reveals that James, a member of the Beenham Tree, gained academic distinction at the London College of Music, and became the youngest church organist and choirmaster in the country at the tender age of 13. He later became organist and choirmaster at Gatley Congregational Church and Lees Street Congregational Church, both in Manchester. He had played his last service on 11 April 1982, Easter Sunday.

In the 1920s, in the days of the silent cinema, James played the piano during films, but he also became the musical director of orchestras in Stockport and Ashton. When talking pictures came on the scene his cinema employment came to an end, but instead he turned to bottling and selling disinfectant that he made by following a formula in a library book. Somewhat later he worked for Ferguson Paillin, a firm of electrical engineers, where his musical interests came to the fore again as he conducted the company's award-winning male voice choir.

He had joined up in the First World War and saw service at the Dardanelles and in Egypt, and was apparently one of the last surviving members of the 53rd (Welsh) Division Cycle Corps, which was raised in Lancashire and Cheshire. During the Second World War he served in the works' Home Guard, and as an Air Raid Warden in his home town of Edgeley. He was also a life-long member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes.

Sir Douglas Arthur Lovelock : An entry in 'The London Gazette' of 4 February 1983 reads 'The Queen has been pleased by Warrant under Her Majesty's Royal Sign Manual bearing date 25th January 1983, to appoint Sir Douglas Arthur Lovelock, K.C.B., to be First Church Estates Commissioner in the room of Sir Ronald Montague Joseph Harris, K.C.V.O., C.B.' Sir Douglas was a member of the Second St Pancras Tree, a former chairman of Customs and Excise, a former chair of the Governors of the Whitgift Foundation in Croydon, and had been appointed Knight Commander of the Bath (K.C.B.) on 16 Jun 1979. He died on 30 July 2014 at the age of 90.

David Lovelock : David is a theoretical physicist and mathematician. He is best known in these specialist fields for the Lovelock Theory of Gravity and the Lovelock's Theorem. David is a member of the Lieflock Line.

Christopher Herald Lovelock : Christopher was a member of the Islington Tree. According to a Wikipedia article he was best known as a pioneer in the field of Services Marketing, and also for his case studies. He moved to the USA in 1967, had a number of prestigious appointments at the Harvard Business School, the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, and several other overseas positions. He apparently taught in over 30 countries on all the continents except Antarctica! He was a prolific author and won several awards for his work. He died at the age of 67 in 2008.

Raymond Colin Oswald Lovelock : Raymond was the father of Christopher above, and therefore another member of the Islington Tree. Raymond was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service during the Second World War. So far as we know he is also the only Lovelock recipient of a Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air, which was awarded in recognition of his skilful forced landing in 1952 of a 'Hermes' aircraft which had lost two of its four engines. Thanks to Captain Lovelock's skill all 54 passengers and 6 crew were able to escape before the aircraft was destroyed by fire. Raymond died in 1983.

Muriel Barbara Lovelock : Muriel was a member of the Lieflock Line. When a teenager Muriel, competing as Barbara Lovelock, achieved a degree of local fame by virtue of being an accomplished high jumper. Her exploits were severally reported in the 'Hull Daily Mail', including the fact that she had broken the record at a meeting in Margate, Kent in 1935, won the All-England Schools title in 1936, and in 1939 she regained the Northern Counties title by clearing 4ft 11ins. She married James Higman in 1949 and died at the age of 83 in 2006.


Damien Richard Lovelock : Damien became famous as the lead singer of the Australian hard rock band The Celibate Rifles. He was born in England in 1954, the son of musical parents William (Bill) Lawrence Lovelock and Joan Marion Badcock, and died of cancer in Sydney, Australia in 2019. Damien was a member of the Wallingford Line. Further details of his life are contained in this Wikipedia article.		      


William (Bill) Lawrence Lovelock : Bill was the father of Damien immediately above, born in England in 1922 and died in Sydney, Australia in 2003. He also was a member of the Wallingford Line. Further details of his life are contained in this Wikipedia article.


       

Ray Lovelock : Ray was born in Rome, Italy in 1950, to an English father and Italian mother. He became a well-known film and television actor. There are more biographical details of his life and career here. Ray was a member of the Wroughton-Tidcombe Tree and died in 2017.

                                                        
Gloria Alice Lovelock : Gloria was a Ceramicist, was one of the most highly regarded potters of the Harvey School and demonstrated her skills at workshops during the Queensland Art Gallery's 1983 exhibition 'LJ Harvey and his School'. Further details of her life are in this biography. Gloria died in 1995 and was a member of the Luckington-Dowdeswell Tree.
 
Terence Arthur Lovelock : Terry was born in Romford, Essex in 1936, the son of William Lovelock and Maud Mary Rhynd. He trained as a printing compositor before becoming a jazz drummer, and later still became an advertising copywriter. He was the man who invented the slogan 'Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach' for the Dutch Lager maker, and was also involved with some famous commercials for Cinzano vermouth starring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins. As a drummer he played with a number of well-known jazz musicians. He was a member of the Second St Pancras Tree and died in February 2021.

Oswald Ifould Lovelock : Oswald 'Ossie' Lovelock was born in Highgate, Western Australiia in 1911 and died in Subiaco, Western Australia in 1981. He was something of an all-round sportsman making his mark at football, baseball and cricket. This article at Wikipedia provides significantly more material. On one occasion, fortunately captured by a newspaper photographer, he stumped the famous Sir Donald Bradman, a photograph of admittedly poor quality that graces his Webtrees entry. Ossie was a member of the Lieflock Line.
    


George John Lovelock : George was born in Micheldever, Hampshire in 1866. In common with his father William and brother Walter he was recorded in the 1881 Census as a Farm Labourer. By 1891 he and Walter had abandoned pursuits agricultural and taken up matters horticultural instead, he in Long Melford in Suffolk and Walter in Chislehurst, Kent. Ten years later and Walter had abandoned that too, but George had moved on to Brockhampton in Herefordshire, by way of Rutland where two of his thirteen children were born, to be recorded as a Domestic Gardener. In 1911, the Census Return being crafted in his own beautifully flowing hand, he recorded himself as a Landscape Gardener employed at unnamed nurseries, somewhere in or close to Hereford. In 1921 his status had improved again for he was recorded as a 'Nursery and Seed Horticultural Expert' employed by King's Acre Nurseries in Hereford, a business still thriving today, although now called the Hereford Garden Centre. In case that 'Expert' label seems a little pretentious the following extract from the 'Hampshire Observer and Basingstoke News' of 27 November 1909 puts it into context:
'The many friends in Hampshire of Mr G Lovelock, the representative and horticultural expert of the King's Acre Nurseries, Hereford, will be pleased to hear that whilst attending the Ideal Home Exhibition held at Glasgow, he was awarded a diploma for services as an expert in horticulture. The honour given to Mr Lovelock is only in accordance with his never- failing courtesy and readiness to assist in all matters pertaining to his profession. Mr Lovelock has had an extensive practice, and it is interesting to know he started his career under the care and iinstruction of the esteemed and highly-respected late head gardener, Mr E Gandy at Stratton Park gardens. From that he was transferred to the gardens at Crawley Court, so he may claim Hampshire as the field for his first ventures, and as representative of one of the largest nursery firms in England. He is greatly respected and well received by all with whom he comes into contact.'
George was a member of the Hampshire- Suffolk-Rutland-Herefordshire Tree and died in 1938.