Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lovell, Salathiel
LOVELL, Sir SALATHIEL (1619–1713), judge, son of Benjamin Lovell, rector of Lapworth, Warwickshire, and brother of Robert Lovell [q. v.], was born in 1619. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in November 1656, and became an ancient of the inn in 1671. In 1684 he was counsel for Sacheverell, who with others was indicted for a riot at an election for the mayoralty of Nottingham. In June 1688 he became a serjeant-at-law, and four years later he was a candidate against Mr. Selby for the recordership of London. Each candidate obtained twelve votes, and Lovell was elected by the casting vote of the lord mayor. On 22 Oct. 1692 he carried up an address of congratulation to the king at Kensington Palace on his return from abroad, and an invitation to a banquet at the Guildhall on lord mayor's day, and was thereupon knighted. In 1695, on 24 May, the first day of term, he was called within the bar as king's serjeant, and in the following year became a judge on the Welsh circuit. He continued to be principally occupied with the administration of the criminal law, and in 1700 he petitioned the crown for a grant of the forfeited estate of Joseph Horton of Cotton Abbotts in Cheshire, on the ground that he had been more diligent in the discovery and conviction of criminals than any other person in the kingdom, and that he had been a loser by it, his post being worth but 80l. a year with few perquisites, and usually being regarded as a mere stepping-stone to a judgeship in Westminster Hall. In June 1700, when the superannuation of Baron Lechmere was expected, Lovell was looked on as his successor, but he continued without reward until ultimately the land in question was granted to him, and on 17 June 1708, at the age of ninety, he was appointed a fifth baron of the exchequer. He had resigned his Welsh judgeship in the previous year, and now vacated the recordership. He sat on the bench five years, but was old and incompetent. He was ‘distinguished principally for his want of memory, and his title of recorder was converted into the nickname of the Obliviscor of London.’ He died 3 May 1713. A son Samuel became a Welsh judge.
[Foss's Judges of England; State Trials, x. 61; Luttrell's Diary, i. 446, ii. 476, 478, 598, iii. 476, iv. 612, vi. 166, 316, 318; Redington's Treasury Papers, 1697–1701 p. 561, 1702–7 pp. 89, 286.]