Loveland Coat of Arms

The Loveland Coat of Arms

Very little is known about the origins and bearers of the Loveland Coat of Arms (pictured here) yet if they are 'official' then any descendent of the Lovelands of Connecticut can possibly claim a distant connection with them.

Page 926 of Papworth's Ordinary of British Armorials (Five Barrows Bath, 1877) states:

Sa. three boars' Heads or. Laver; Vere or Verre; Robert de Ver; Lever; Robert Lever; Loveland, Norfolk; Lever or Lever.
Elsewhere the Arms are ascribed to Canon Joseph Loveland (died 1692 ), son of John of Norwich (died 1648). Yet at this writing we have see no evidence whatever of the Canon's father (a long-time dignitary of the City of Norwich), any contemporary or any earlier Loveland using these Arms. How the Arms came to be ascribed to the Canon is a mystery. Indeed the 1930s researcher Miss MA Farrow wrote to her client Mr Paddock:
I visited the College of Arms to get at the root of the Armorial Bearings of the Lovelands. The Chester Herald looked it all out for me and found that the arms were so old (emphasised) that there was no record of them having been granted. That is to say the family had always borne them from the Conqueror's time in Cobb.
The arms (similarly described) turn up again many years later in the strange case of John Perry Loveland (taken from Banks Authorised Arms, p 244):
John Perry Loveland of Pembroke Villas, Kensington, Co.Middlesex (London) is second son of the late Robert William Oldershaw of The Mansion House, Islington, Co.Middlesex, Esq. By Royal Licence 28-Mar-1861 he and his wife and their issue were authorised to take the surname Loveland instead of Oldershaw ... quartered with Oldershaw, pursuant to a direction in the a codicil of the Will of their Aunt Mary Ann Loveland of Park Place, aforesaid, sp, dec.
Then again in 1865 when Richard Loveland Loveland a descendant of the above mentioned Oldershaw (and a correspondent with the authors of the Loveland Genealogy) is mentioned in Fox-Davies Armorial Families (p 791):
Richard Loveland Loveland Esq one of H.M.Council learned in the Law. Member of the Inner Temple and Lincoln's Inn. Deputy Chairman of the County of Middx Sessions 1880-96. Deputy Chairman of London Quarter Sessions since 1896. Born 18-Jul-1841 being the only son of John Perry Loveland Esq J.P. Co of Middx and Harriett hannah, only child of Richard Errington Esq of Beaufort, Hexham, Northumberland.

Livery Green. Armorial bearings Quarterly 1 & 4 sable, gemée of acorns and three boars' heads couped or 2 & 3 azure, a stags head caboshed or, between three bezants. Mantling sable and or. Crests 1) on a wreath of the colours a dexter cubit arm in armour proper, charged with a fret sable, encircled by a wreath of oak, and holding in the hand a scymiter also proper. 2) on a wreath of the colours , a stag lodged proper gutté de larous, bezant. Motto: Opes industria paret.


We have the line of Richard Loveland Loveland (born 18-Jul-1841) back to his great grandfather William Loveland m Elianor Bilson 2-Jun-1741 at St.Benet Pauls Wharf, London if anyone is interested. In his letters to the authors of the Loveland Genealogy, Richard LL mentions that his ancestors were connected with the sea.

The implication is that there may be some connection between the Norwich family (from which many of the US Lovelands are descended) and this well-to-do Loveland family in Victorian London. Clearly for the Victorians to have been allowed to 'quarter' the Loveland arms (three boars' heads, etc) with the Oldershaw arms (stags heads), they must have been able to convince the College of Arms of their authenticity. Similarly, it is unlikely that Canon Joseph Loveland of Norwich would have been accredited with bearing the original version without having proved his right to do so.

One of the many intriguing loose ends left by Miss Farrow is the fact that she apparently made a connection between the Lovelands and the Levelands (although she leaves no explanation for this possibility). Papworth's Ordinary of British Armorial (p 926) has the arms of the Leveland family as Sa, three boars heads couped arg. Note the similarity, except for the exchange of gold for silver.

It is possible that at least part of the answer may exist in files stored at the Bodelean Library in Oxford. Miss Farrow states that there are letters written by Canon Joseph Loveland among the Tanner MSS (No.40). She also states:

In Candlers Names & Arms of Sundry of the Gentlemen of Suffolk etc. occurs the following "I suppose ye Bend are rather Argent and B in Mr.Leveland Book.

L.D. Tanners Mss. Library Bodelean 226 - p.53

Also, Miss Farrow notes as 'important' the Ipswich (Co.Suffolk) Will of Thomas Leftling de South Elmbram. Book 24, Folio 37, 1572-1573.

Further Research

Research has been conducted by John Howard in 1998 at the College of Arms, London, but the results cannot be quoted here for copyright reasons.

Anyone wishing to discover more about the mystery surrounding the Loveland arms might like to explore the papers of Canon Joseph Loveland contained in the Tanner Collection at the Bodelean Library in Oxford.

We invite anyone who can add anything to this story to share their information with other visitors to this site.


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Doug Murphy
Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Last modified: Sunday, 18-Apr-1999 23:58:55 MDT