John Loveridge

Who was John Loveridge?

Sir John Warren Loveridge was a British Conservative Party Member of Parliament for 13 years, from 1970 to 1983. He was also the owner of a London secretarial college, a farmer in the West Country, and a published poet and an abstract sculptor.

Loveridge was born in Bowdon in Cheshire, the son of Claude W Loveridge and his wife, Emily. His father was a civil engineer and businessman who had been wounded at the Battle of the Somme, and his mother founded St Godric's College, a secretarial college in Hampstead, in 1929. He was educated privately, and studied engineering at St John's College, Cambridge. After graduating, he worked in aviation, developing fighter aircraft from 1945 to 1947, but soon became the Vice-Principal of St Godric's College. He became Principal in 1954, retaining that position until the college closed in 1990. Author John Fowles taught at the college for nearly 10 years. He assisted a son, Michael, to founding Devonshire House Preparatory School, and he and his wife also ran Lyndhurst House preparatory school, both in Hampstead.

Loveridge fought several elections for the Liberal Party, but joined the Conservative Party in 1949.