The Lovesey's...
This photograph is of my great-great grandparents, Patience Lovesey (nee Stephens) and William Lovesey. One of their daughter's - Fanny Elizabeth Lovesey (standing) is also pictured. The photograph was taken around the 1890s in Cropthorne - a small village not too far from Evesham in Worcestershire. The cottage outside which they were pictured was their home for many decades and was one of three terraced Farm Labourer's cottages. The cottages are still standing but have been renovated and knocked into two cottages, now named Perseus and Phoenix. They are, I imagine a far cry from the poor farm-labourer's cottages that my ancestors inhabited.
William Lovesey was the son of Henry Lovesey, born circa 1796 in the village of Marston Meysey in Wiltshire. Henry married a Mary Ann Bartlett who was born in Painswick in Gloucestershire. Henry died in 1877, his death being registered in Pershore... he was aged 82. Mary Ann also lived to a ripe old age; her death was registered at the Pershore Union Workhouse in 1887, her age was given as 89 years.
A great story is recounted in the book 'The Cropthorne Camera of Minnie Holland' by the author ER Cornell who tells a story of Patience Lovesey who by all accounts only had one tooth in her head. Cornell states that according to legend, local schoolchildren were looking through the Lovesey's cottage window when they saw Patience chasing a pickled onion around the kitchen table, trying to spear it with her one and only tooth!
Left-Right... The three Lovesey boys L-R William Thomas Lovesey (Bill), Leonard Charles Lovesey and Cyril (Sid) Lovesey circa 1918; Len in his RAF uniform during WW2; my Grandad's Funeral card
Charles Lovesey was my great grandfather... he bore a remarkable likeness to Winston Churchill and was the youngest child of William and Patience. Like his elder siblings, he too left the Worcestershire countryside for work but he didn't stray too far when he moved to the Kings Norton Ward of North Worcestershire... an area that is now part of South Birmingham. Charles worked as a Railwayman, being based at the Maryvale Road site in Bournville. He married Sarah Jane Harris - a Warwickshire lass from Hatton who worked at Cadbury's prior to her marriage. When first married, Charles and 'Jinny' lived in Bond Street in Stirchley which was then a small urban village near Bournville. By the Edwardian period , they were living at no. 11 Warren Road in Stirchley where they would remain.
I'm not sure that Charles was a religious man but he was against any type of work being carried out on a Sunday... this included housework. My Nan Rose would recall Sunday evenings when they would hear his footsteps coming up the entry (he never used the front door), and she and my grandad would hurry to put the ironing away before he came through the back door. Whether Charles (like his son Len would be) was interested in industrial relations I don't know, but on sorting through his papers, I found an original General Strike poster from 1926... being on 'the Railways', he probably was.
Len Lovesey was and will always be my hero. Short of stature, standing at 5'6" with blue eyes, his hair was brown in his youth but I only remember it as being white-grey and brylcreemed. His passport tells of a distinguishing feature - that of the middle finger of his left hand missing. He apparently lost it in a machining accident at work, but he would tell me that I bit it off when I was a small child.
Len was quite ill as a child, suffering double pneumonia around the age of 10; ill health was to burden him all his life. Len attended Stirchley Street Council School, leaving at the age of 14 in July 1930. The Head Teacher made the following remarks on his School Leaving Certificate "has considerable intelligence. Should prove quite reliable and give every satisfaction".
During
WW2, Len served with the RAF spending some time overseas in France.
His main role in the war was repairing Spitfires and other war
planes. Len was an electrician by trade working (amongst other firms)
for ICI, The Rackhams Store in Brum (where he was sacked from during
1969 - a period when he spent a lot of time in hospital), and later the
Maternity Ward of the QE Hospital. He was also a Labour Councillor for
Weoley Ward in Birmingham for the years between the late 1950s to the
late 1960s, and an active Shop Steward and Trade Union member,
belonging to the Electrical Engineering Union. He was known for being
a selfless, reasonable and logical man (who nevertheless would not
suffer fools) who worked tirelessly for others. After he died, I
cleared out his old work chest; here I found hundreds of letters from
the constituents of Weoley Castle thanking him for his help in finding
better housing, or getting them hot running water and an inside loo and
bath.
In the November of 1977, my beloved Grandad shuffled off this mortal coil and is still desperately missed.
Generation No.1 ~ Paternal
1. Leonard Charles LOVESEY. Born on May 22 1916 in Stirchley, Birmingham, England. Leonard died on Nov 12 1977 in 44 Frances Rd, Cotteridge, Birmingham; he was 61.
On Jun 26 1938, when Leonard was 22, he married Rosina Beatrice HICKEY.
Generation No.2 ~ Paternal
2. Charles LOVESEY. Born on Jul 19 1878 in Cropthorne Worcestershire, England. Charles died in 1948 in Birmingham; he was 69.
In 1900, when Charles was 21, he married Sarah Jane HARRIS.
They had the following children ...
i. Evelyn Pearl LOVESEY (1902 - 1968)
ii. William Thomas LOVESEY (1905 - 1974)
iii. Cyril LOVESEY (b.1908)
1 iv. Leonard Charles LOVESEY (1916 - 1977)
3. Sarah Jane HARRIS. Born on Feb 28 1879 in Hatton, Warwickshire. Sarah died on Apr 02 1932 in Birmingham; she was 53.
Generation No.3 ~ Paternal
4. William LOVESEY. Born in 1832 in Netherton nr Pershore, Worcs, England. William died in 1908 , reg Pershore; he was 76.
On Aug 04 1857, when William was 25, he married Patience STEPHENS.
They had the following children ...
i. Giles LOVESEY (b.1860)
ii. William Richard LOVESAY (1862 - 1933)
iii. Hannah LOVESEY (1863 - 1922)
iv. Alfred LOVESAY (b.1869)
v. Fanny Elizabeth LOVESEY (1871 - 1939)
vi. Henry Giles LOVSEY (b.1874)
2 vii. Charles LOVESEY (1878 - 1948)
5. Patience STEPHENS. Born on Mar 20 1835 in Ashton under Hill Glouc. Patience died on Apr 05 1919 in Cropthorne; she was 84.
Generation No.4 ~ Paternal
8. Henry LOVESEY. Born in 1795 in Marston Maisey, Wiltshire. Henry died in 1877, reg Pershore; he was 82.
Henry married Mary Ann BARTLETT.
They had the following children ...
i. Richard LOVESEY (1827 - 1845)
ii. Hannah LOVESEY, b.1828 (b.1828)
iii. Sarah LOVESEY, b.1831 (1831 - 1913)
4 iv. William LOVESEY (1832 - 1908)
v. John LOVESEY, b.1835 (1835 - 1878)
vi. Henry LOVESEY, b.1839 (1839 - 1921)
9. Mary Ann BARTLETT. Born in 1798 in Painswick, Gloucestershire. Mary died on Jan 20 1887 in Union Workhouse, Pershore; she was 89.
10. Giles STEPHENS. Born in 1796 in Winchcombe Gloucs. Giles died in 1869, reg Evesham; he was 73.
On Dec 11 1823, when Giles was 27, he married Hannah PHELPS.
They had the following children ...
i. Esther STEPHENS (b.1824)
ii. Mary Ann STEPHENS (b.1825)
iii. Caroline STEPHENS (1827 - 1908)
iv. James STEPHENS (b.1829)
v. Giles STEPHENS, b.1831 (1831 - 1831)
vi. Christiana STEPHENS (1831 - 1831)
vii. Charles STEPHENS (b.1833)
viii. Job STEPHENS (b.1835)
5 ix. Patience STEPHENS (1835 - 1919)
x. Frances STEPHENS (b.1837)
xi. Elizabeth Emma STEPHENS (b.1842)
11. Hannah PHELPS. Born in 1797 in Worcs. Hannah died in 1844, reg Evesham; she was 47.
Generation No.5 ~ Paternal
16. John LOVESEY. Born in Gloucs / Wiltshire ?.
John married Elizabeth (Betty) UNKNOWN
They had the following children ...
i. Mary LOVESEY (b.1781)19. Hannah ?
ii. William LOVESEY (b.1783)
iii. Sarah LOVESEY (b.1786)
iv. Elizabeth (Betty) LOVESEY (b.1790)
v. John LOVESEY (1792 - 1872)
8 vi. Henry LOVESEY (1795 - 1877)
17. Elizabeth (Betty) UNKNOWN
18. Richard BARTLETT. Born in Gloucestershire?.
Richard married Hannah UNKNOWN.
They had one known child ...
9 i. Mary Ann BARTLETT (1798 - 1887)
19. Hannah UNKNOWN.
. Born in Gloucestershire?.
20. John STEPHENS. Born in 1760 in Glos.
John married Ann UNKNOWN.
They had the following children ...
10 i. Giles STEPHENS (1796 - 1869)
ii. Samual STEPHENS (b.1799)
iii. Ann STEPHENS (b.1803)
iv. Mary STEPHENS (b.1804)
21. Ann UNKNOWN. Born in 1760 in Glos?.
Who, What, When, Where?
o 1841 Census – Henry Lovesey (Ag Lab), Ann & family were living in the village of Cropthorne, Worcestershire.
o 1851 Census – Henry Lovesey (Ag Lab), Ann & family were living in the Hamlet of Charlton in the Parish of Cropthorne, Worcs
o 1861 Census – Henry Lovesey (Ag Lab), Mary A & family were living in the Civil Parish of Charlton, Worcs
o 1871 Census – Henry Lovesey (Ag Lab) & Mary Ann were living in the home of son William & family in the Civil Parish of Cropthorne in the Town of Charlton, Worcs
o 1881 Census - Mary A Lovesey was widowed and living alone in the Cottage opp Church, Cropthorne, Worcs
o 1881 Census – William Lovesey (Ag Lab), Patience & family were living in the Cottage opp Vicarage, Cropthorne, Worcs
o 1887 - Ann Lovesey, widow of Henry Lovesey, Ag Lab of Cropthorne died aged 89 on 20 January of Old Age Certified at the Union Workhouse, Pershore. The informant was William Sherlock, Master of the Union Workhouse
o 1891 Census – William Lovesey (Ag Lab), Patience & family were living in the Cottage opp Vicarage, Cropthorne, Worcs
o 1901 Census – William Lovesey (retired Ag Lab), & Patience were living at The Den in Cropthorne, Worcs
o 1901 Census – Charles Lovesey (Railway Engine Stoker) and Sarah Jane were living at 17 Bond Street, Parish of St Nicholas, Kings Norton, Bournville, Worcestershire