Who was H. P. Lovecraft's father?

H. P. Lovecraft’s father was Winfield Scott Lovecraft.

Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1890, the only child of Winfield and Sarah Susan Lovecraft. His father worked as a traveling salesman and was frequently away from home during Lovecraft’s early childhood.

In 1893, Winfield was committed to Butler Hospital after suffering a serious mental and physical breakdown. He died there in 1898, when Lovecraft was seven. His death certificate listed general paresis, a condition associated with late-stage syphilis.

A common mix-up is with Whipple Van Buren Phillips, Lovecraft’s maternal grandfather. Phillips was an important influence on the young writer and helped cultivate his interest in literature, but he was not Lovecraft’s father. Robert E. Howard and Samuel Loveman were fellow figures in Lovecraft’s literary circle, not relatives.