he Lovemore surname is closely linked to Port Elizabeth and it’s early history, specially out in the western side of the city. This is all thanks to one Henry LOVEMORE who left England to settle in Port Elizabeth in 1820. Although he came at the time of the British Settlers who settled east of the city around Grahamstown and Bathurst, Lovemore paid for his passage and purchased Bushy Park, then known as Klaas Kraal, for the princely sum of one thousand pounds.
Lore has it that Henry was the illegitimate son of George III but this is said to have been disproven. Henry’s riches weren’t royal at all but came from many taverns he owned in around Fleet Street, area of London. Blue blood or not, Henry did leave a huge legacy in the form of ten children from three of his four marriages.
Land owned by the Lovemore family included the present day suburbs of Lovemore Heights, Charlo and Heatherbank. The family graveyards are at the three main Lovemore homesteads being at Bushy Park, Benmore off Circular Drive in Charlo and Preston Park in Paterson. There is another one in Lovemore Heights where a number of family graves can also be found and it was this one where I took the picture above.
I shared this my my dear friend and fellow historian, who is also a Lovemore!
I am currently tracing my children's family tree who are descendants of Mary Constance Lovemore who married Lionel Cripps. I would appreciate any contact with the family to get more details about their lives. RegardsDiane FoleyContact: diane.sawyer44@gmail.com