LOVELL. [See also Lovel.]
LOVELL, DANIEL (d. 1818), journalist, was for many years proprietor and editor of the ‘Statesman,’ a newspaper projected in 1806 by John Hunt. His outspoken criticism of the tories subjected him to much government persecution. In 1811 he was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment for copying the remarks of the Manchester papers on the conduct of the military at Sir Francis Burdett's arrest; while the original promulgators of the libel were only called upon to express regret at their inadvertence. In August 1812 he was again tried and found guilty of a libel on the commissioners of the transport service; and although he pleaded that it was published without his knowledge or sanction while he was in prison, he was sentenced to pay a fine of 500l., to be imprisoned in Newgate for eighteen months, and to find securities for three years, himself in 1,000l., and two sureties in 500l. each. Being unable to pay the fine or find sureties, he remained in gaol. At length, on 23 Nov. 1814, Samuel Whitbread, M.P., presented a petition from him praying for a remission or reduction of his fine, and after some time the government remitted the fine and reduced the amount of security; but he was still unable to procure it, and on 17 March 1815 Whitbread again presented a petition from him, stating his utter inability to obtain the required security, and calling the merciful consideration of the house to his sad plight, he having been confined nearly four years in Newgate. He was ultimately released, broken in health and financially ruined. In 1817 he was again heavily fined for speaking of the ministerial evening journal as ‘the prostituted “Courier,” the venerable apostate of tyranny and oppression, whose full-blown baseness and infamy held him fast to his present connections and prevented him from forming new ones,’ while he further accused the editor, Daniel Stuart [q. v.], of pocketing 600l. or 700l. of the Society of the Friends of the People. Lovell died in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, on 27 Dec. 1818. Shortly before he sold the ‘Statesman’ to Sampson Perry, formerly editor of the ‘Argus.’
[Andrews's British Journalism, ii. 71, 91, 98; Fox Bourne's English Newspapers, i. 368; Gent. Mag. 1818, pt. ii. p. 647.]
LOVELL, FRANCIS, Viscount Lovell (1454–1487?), born in 1454, descended from the eldest brother of Philip Lovel [q. v.], was son of John, eighth baron Lovell of Tichmarsh, Northants (d. 1464), an adherent of Henry VI, by his wife Joane, daughter of John, first viscount Beaumont. One sister, Joane, married Sir Brian Stapleton, and another, Frideswide, Sir Edward Norris, having by him two sons: John, esquire of the body to Henry VIII, and Henry Norris [q. v.], the supposed paramour of Anne Boleyn. These ladies were coheiresses of their uncle, William, lord Beaumont, and between their children the barony fell into abeyance, until it was restored in favour of the descendants of the elder sister, Lady Stapleton, in 1840. Francis Lovell was knighted by the Duke of Gloucester, 22 Aug. 1480, while on an expedition against the Scots, and on 15 Nov. 1482 was summoned to parliament as thirteenth baron Lovell of Tichmarsh. After Edward's death he was a strong supporter of Richard's claims; he had been one of Richard's companions at Middleham Castle, and 4 Jan. 1483 was created Viscount Lovell. He also held the baronies of Deincourt, Grey of Rotherfield, and Holand. The Holand barony had come into his family by the marriage of John, ninth lord Lovell, to Maud, granddaughter and heiress to Robert, lord Holand, who died in 1373, and in 1483 Francis Lovell had certain estates confirmed to him as heir of the Holands. In 1483 he received many small appointments under the crown. On 17 May he became constable of Wallingford Castle, on 19 May chief butler of England, on 21 May keeper of Thorpe Wakefield Castle. He also became a privy councillor and K.G., and from June 1483 to 22 Aug. 1485 he was lord chamberlain of the household. At the coronation of Richard III, 7 July 1483, he bore the third sword. On 23 Oct. 1483 he was commissioned to levy men against the Duke of Buckingham. In February 1483–4 he assisted to found the guild of the Holy Cross at Abendon. He was one of Richard's most trusted friends, and was ‘Lovel that dog’ in the Lancastrian verse of the time which described Richard's administration. The allusion is probably to his crest. He had further grants before the end of the reign, and in May 1485 was sent to Southampton to fit out a fleet against Henry Tudor. He failed, however, to prevent him from sailing round to Milford in August. Lovell fought at Bosworth, and after the battle fled to sanctuary at St. John's, Colchester. Here he seems to have been intriguing, and perhaps contemplated submitting to Henry. Otherwise it is difficult
