Hi All Robert here! Finally back after five months of travel around Europe. Wonderful to spend a weekend with James Loveluck and his delightful family in Grenoble. What a view! So here's my very first post for 2001! I have a letter in from a Val Sears, whose great-aunt was Emma Lovelock. She sent me a marriage certificate dated Oct 12, 1908 at Parish Church of Boughton under Blean, Kent of Emma, then aged 22, a spinster, resident Ospringe (Kent), father: Frank Lovelock, deceased who married Mark Marley, aged 24, labourer, resident: Boughton (Kent), Father: John Marley, labourer. Wit: William Marley, Emily Marley. According to Val, the information Emma gave on her marriage certificate is not correct. Frank Lovelock was in fact Frank Boulding and he was still very much alive in 1908. Val also enclosed a copy of a birth certificate of Emma Lovelock dated Feb 23, 1887. Emma was born at Street, Bethersden; mother Harriet Lovelock, housekeeper, then resident at Street, Bethersden (Kent). No father listed. According to Val's letter, the story goes that Emma Lovelock's father was in fact Frank Boulding. Emma's mother, Harriet, was employed as a housekeeper at the Boulding home. Val says that Frank married Harriet and then married a second time to a Charlotte (unknown) in 1887. Frank and Charlotte Boulding then 'adopted' Emma and Emma appears as Emma Boulding in the 1891 census, still living with Frank and Charlotte. However, Emma Boulding/Lovelock called herself Emma Lovelock on her marriage certificate. Personally, I am doubtful that Frank Boulding ever married Harriet Lovelock. The misinformation Emma Lovelock gave at her wedding suggests she is covering up the truth. Val does not say what happened to Harriet Lovelock. Here's a copy of the return letter (Val is not on email) I sent: ____________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________ Thank you so much for sending through the family information on your great-aunt Emma. I cannot connect Emma’s mother Harriet to any known Lovelock line. There is now a Lovelock site on the internet that you may like to have a look at for yourself: www.ri.silicomp.fr/~loveluck/genealogy/lovelock I wondered whether Emma’s mother, Harriet, really ever married Frank Boulding, especially since she gave birth to her daughter Emma the same year as Frank married Charlotte. I checked in the 1881 census to see if I could find Harriet. One might assume she was quite young in 1887 when she gave birth to Emma so she was probably then aged somewhere between about 20-25. There was no Harriet Lovelock that really fitted. The closest was: Dwelling: 13 John St Census Place: Greenwich, Kent, England Source: FHL Film 1341168 PRO Ref RG11 Piece 0721 Folio 130 Page 20 Mar Age Sex Birthplace John Pl. LOVELOCK M 63 M Mile End, Middlesex, England Rel:Head Occ: Mattress Maker (Cabr Mkr) Mary Ann LOVELOCK M 49 F New Cross, Kent, England Rel: Wife Occ: Laundress Harriet LOVELOCK U 14 F Greenwich, Kent, England Rel: Daur But Greenwich is of course a long way from Bethersden in Kent. However, it was not unusual to travel a good way from home to take up a job as a ‘housekeeper’. I also checked for a Frank Boulding living in Kent in the 1881 census: The most likely match was: Dwelling: Preston Street 6 Limes Place Census Place: Faversham, Kent, England Source: FHL Film 1341230 PRO Ref RG11 Piece 0968 Folio 93 Page 14 Marr Age Sex Birthplace Frank W. BOULDING M 45 M Lynstock, Kent, England Rel: Head Occ: Butcher Master Martha BOULDING M 41 F Waterloo Town, Middlesex, England Rel: Wife Frank A. BOULDING 14 M Faversham, Kent, England Rel: Son Occ: Scholar Charles W. BOULDING 11 M Faversham, Kent, England Rel: Son Occ: Scholar Herbert H. BOULDING 9 M Faversham, Kent, England Rel: Son Occ: Scholar Sydney W. BOULDING 7 M Faversham, Kent, England Rel: Son Occ: Scholar Mary E. BOULDING 5 F Faversham, Kent, England Rel: Daur Ernest A. BOULDING 3 M Faversham, Kent, England Rel: Son Alice M. BOULDING 11 m F Faversham, Kent, England Rel: Daur Esther HUNT U 19 F Faversham, Kent, England Rel: Serv Occ: General Serv Domestic That would of course make Frank Boulding only twenty when he married Charlotte and the same age as Harriet Lovelock. It would help if we knew where Frank Boulding was living in 1881 and his age. Perhaps you know his age from his marriage to Charlotte in 1887? When you say that Emma Lovelock appears in ‘all the census’ as Emma Boulding, I assume you mean the 1891. It would be great to have that detail if at all possible. I’ll pass all this information onto the other Lovelock researchers – of which there are now quite a few – and see what they might turn up. Thanks very much once again for sending me the Lovelock information. Really appreciated. ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Val does however go on to say that Emma Lovelock and Mark Marley had eight children: Winifred, Harry Richard (bn:abt 1909). John (Jack) William (bn:abt 1913), Dorothy Joyce (bn:30 June 1927), Emily Gladys (bn:abt 1916), Lillian Kathleen (bn:26 Dec 1924), George Edward (bn:4 Nov 1922) and Ida Peggy (bn:1930 d: 2 July 1949) Emma died 23 Mar 1968 at Faversham Cottage Hospital. Any thoughts? Cheers to you all Robert Sterry