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Ernestine Caroline Lovelace (c. 1856–1923)

by Chris Cunneen

This article was published:

This entry is from People Australia

Ernestine Caroline Lovelace, née Schmidt, late Sonnemann (c.1856-1923) Labor Party activist

Birth: about 1856 in Prussia [Germany] daughter of Wilhelm Fichtner or Oscar Schmidt, soldier, and Rosina, née Fichtner. Name was variously recorded, sometimes as Cristiane or Christiana Karoline Schmidt or Fichtner. Marriages: (1) 27 May 1876 with Evangelican Lutheran rites at Stockwell, South Australia to Otto Franz Sonnemann. They had five sons, two of whom died in childhood. (2) 8 June 1898 at the Wesleyan parsonage, Broken Hill, to Charles Lovelace Andrew [known as Charles Lovelace], a miner, born at sea. Death: 27 April 1923 in hospital at Broken Hill. Religion: Methodist. 

  • Arrived in South Australia about 1870. Was living at Lights Pass when she was married.
  • Widowed with three young sons in 1888. Spent time in NSW near Menindee, then moved to Broken Hill about 1896.
  • In November 1898 her second husband was killed in a mining accident at the South mine.
  • “Mrs Lovelace” became a prominent Labor supporter. In December 1903, a member of the Broken Hill Political Labor League (PLL), she supervised a stall at a fair at the Trades Hall raising funds to build an office for the Labor paper, the Barrier Daily Truth.
  • She was elected president of the Broken Hill PLL in 1904. In 1907 she was president of the Broken Hill and Wills Ward PLL.
  • Purchased a freehold block in Wyman Street, Broken Hill.
  • Associated with charities such as the Barrier branch of the Children’s Ward League.

Original Publication

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Citation details

Chris Cunneen, 'Lovelace, Ernestine Caroline (c. 1856–1923)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://labouraustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/lovelace-ernestine-caroline-33751/text42246, accessed 7 December 2024.

© Copyright Labour Australia, 2012

Life Summary [details]

Alternative Names
  • Sonnemann, Ernestine Caroline
  • Sonneman, Ernestine Caroline
  • Schmidt, Ernestine Caroline
  • Schmidt, Christiana Karoline
  • Fichtner, Christiana Karoline
Birth

c. 1856
Germany

Death

27 April, 1923 (aged ~ 67)
Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia

Cultural Heritage

Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.

Religious Influence

Includes the religion in which subjects were raised, have chosen themselves, attendance at religious schools and/or religious funeral rites; Atheism and Agnosticism have been included.

Occupation or Descriptor
Political Activism