Arrival in Wales
Tradition hands down that the Lovells came from Spain, fleeing persecution along with such families as the Boswells, Hearns, Coopers and Lees. After arriving in Cornwall from France, they established a travelling circuit between England and Wales.
As with many Gypsy tribes, a British surname was adopted and used among non-Romanies instead of their own. Lovell was chosen either because it meant the same as their Romani name (ie, good-looking) or, legend says, because they protected a "Lord Lovell" from being imprisoned and were allowed to use his name in gratitude.
Slack Lovell
The Welsh family tree can be traced back to Slack Lovell, born in the 1700s. From him descended Major, Ladin, William, Tom, Frederick, Harriet, Charlotte and Trenit Lovell and their numerous offspring.
The Lovell circuit included Devon, Cornwall and Wales, with stopping places such as King Street in Plymouth (Cornwall), the Upper Race in Pontypool (Torfaen) and Brooks Field in Newport (Monmouthshire). The men dealt in knife-grinding, horse-trading and farmwork, whilst the women went from door to door selling pegs and flowers. As always, there was fortune-telling and playing music.
Adolphus Lovell
Frederick Lovell, one of Slack's sons, had ten children, among them Syrenda. Syrenda married a Romani from Cornwall called Rosi Small, and one of their sons was Adolphus, born at the King Street atchantan (stopping place) in 1884.
Adolphus married Bertha Lee, a Welsh Gypsy descended from Sam Lee. They travelled throughout England, Wales and Scotland, with Adolphus grinding cutlery and dealing in horses whilst Bertha and her daughters sold door to door. The family owned two vardos (waggons), one a Reading-type pulled by two grai (horses) and the other a Bowtop.
Like many Gypsies, the Lovells enlisted during the two World Wars, and in WW1 Adolphus fought in France on horseback and was wounded. Between the wars Brooks Field in Newport beside the River Usk had been a favourite camping place for Gypsies and was known as the Travellers Rest. In the 1940s it was officially closed down, and many Gypsy families were forced to live in houses for the first time. Adolphus settled in Newport and opened a marine store, dealing in scrap metal. He died in 1945. His wife, Bertha, kept the two vardos into the 60s.
Adolphus Ruben Lovell
Adolphus and Bertha had two sons: Seth and Adolphus Ruben. Seth was named after an ancestor who lost a fight with the Locks over a travelling circuit in North Wales and hence moved south. Seth went unmarried and is buried in Newport with his parents.
Adolphus Ruben Lovell, the other son, was born at the Pontypool atchantan in 1923. He joined the British Merchant Navy in WW2 and was twice on Russian convoys in the North Atlantic when his ship was torpedoed by German submarines and sunk. In 1947 Adolphus left Wales for the last time: fate and the Navy took him to New Plymouth in New Zealand, where he met Rona Beard.
Rona's parents were Smoky Bill and Pearl, and they had ten children. They were said to be Scottish travellers who were lured down under in the 1900s by the prospect of gold. Adolphus jumped ship to stay with Rona and was hidden by her parents on a farm. He gave himself up during an amnesty, spent six months in jail and was allowed to remain in the country. He was illiterate all his life, but good with the heavy horses which were in use on farms. Adolphus's son Robert was born in New Zealand. Bob is a Kiwi-Romani singer/songwriter and is proud of his heritage.
Info supplied by Bob Lovell.
All Lovell pictures copyright
Bob Lovell 2006.
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