John Lovelace, 3rd Baron Lovelace (1641 – 27 September 1693) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1661 to 1670 when he inherited the title Baron Lovelace. He was notorious for his drunken and extravagant way of life, which undoubtedly hastened his death.

Life

Lovelace was born at

Hurley, Berkshire Hurley is a village and rural civil parishes in England, civil parish in Berkshire, England. Its riverside is agricultural, except for Hurley Priory, as are the outskirts of the village. The Olde Bell Inn adjoining the priory is believed to date ...

, the son of John Lovelace, 2nd Baron Lovelace, and Anne Lovelace, 7th Baroness Wentworth and Baroness le Despenser. ''

suo jure ''Suo jure'' is a Latin phrase, used in English to mean 'in his own right' or 'in her own right'. In most nobility-related contexts, it means 'in her own right', since in those situations the phrase is normally used of women; in practice, especi ...

'' ( Lady Anne Wentworth).History of Parliament Online - Lovelace, Hon. John
/ref> He matriculated at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street and Parks Road ...

, on 25 July 1655, and was awarded MA on 9 September 1661.'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Lloyd-Lytton', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (1891), pp. 921-955. Date accessed: 17 June 2012
/ref> In 1661, Lovelace was elected Member of Parliament for

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

in the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. With the exception of the Long Parliament, it was the longest-lasting English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring ...

, and sat in the Commons until 1670 when he inherited the peerage on the death of his father. He developed a reputation as an ardent Whig, and during the

Exclusion Crisis The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1679 until 1681 in the reign of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. Three Exclusion Bills sought to exclude the King's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, ...

he strongly supported Exclusion. Though he professed to be a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

in religion, he was also a keen sportsman, and notorious as a heavy drinker and gambler. Due to his gambling debts, and other debts he inherited from his father, he was obliged in the end to sell nearly all his lands, including the main family residence of Hurley. He was called "a man of good natural parts, but of very loose and very ill principles". Lovelace was also notably anti-Catholic: under the Catholic regime of James II he created a scandal when a

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magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

sent him a

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, which he used in public to wipe his bottom, for which misdemeanour he was severely reprimanded by the Privy Council, and threatened with prosecution. J.P. Kenyon remarks that a more sensible ruler than James II would have let the matter drop, as a rather tasteless joke with no political overtones.Kenyon p.160 Following the discovery of the Rye House Plot, Lovelace was questioned as to his involvement, but nothing could be proved against him, despite his close political links to some of the alleged plotters. John Lovelace

Glorious Revolution

He was admitted into the confidence of those organising the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

to replace the Catholic James II with the Protestant William of Orange. In March 1688, he was summoned before the Privy Council and questioned about his dealings with William, but was released on account of insufficient evidence. He protested his loyalty to James in person, but the King was unimpressed, saying angrily: "My Lord, this is not the first trick you have played me". Lovelace indignantly replied "I never played a trick on your majesty or anyone else". He arranged secret meetings in a cellar at Ladye Place, his home in Hurley. Once he heard that William had landed in England, he set out with 70 men to join him, but was captured and imprisoned in Gloucester Castle. After his release, he entered

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with a force of 300 cavalry to occupy the city for William.

Last years and death

Lovelace was appointed Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners in 1689 and was Chief Justice in Eyre south of Trent. However his conduct hardly fitted him for any public office: he was nearly always drunk, and by 1691 was reported to be wandering the streets of London assaulting strangers. In 1692, suffering from the ill effects of a lifetime of alcoholic excess, Lovelace fell down a flight of stairs and received injuries from which he never recovered. He died in 1693 in

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is located in Holborn and is the List of city squares by size, largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a ...

, London at the age of about 53.

Family

Lovelace married in 1662 Martha Pye, the daughter and coheiress of Sir Edmund Pye, 1st Baronet, of Bradenham, Buckinghamshire, and his wife Catherine Lucas, daughter of Thomas Lucas. They had one son, John, who died in infancy, and three daughters. The peerage passed to his cousin William's son, John Lovelace, 4th Baron Lovelace, who became Governor of the

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colony. Lovelace's daughter Martha married Henry Johnson, said to be 'the greatest shipbuilder and shipowner of his day'; and succeeded her grandmother as the 8th Baroness Wentworth.

Notes

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Lovelace, John Lovelace, 3rd Baron 1641 births 1693 deaths People from Hurley, Berkshire 3 John, Baron 3rd English MPs 1661–1679 Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Members of the Green Ribbon Club People associated with the Popish Plot People of the Rye House Plot Members of the Parliament of England for Berkshire