Who is Professor Richard Lovell?

Professor Richard Lovell (referred to as Lovell throughout the novel) is the father of Griffin and Robin to different, unnamed mothers. Lovell has a fascination with Chinese artifacts and language, and is one of only two scholars at Oxford who can speak the language before his children arrive. However, Lovell is also deeply racist, calling the Chinese incompetent, lazy, and uneducated. He constantly argues that they are wasting their potential and vast silver reserves, ignoring the fact that British colonialism has crippled much of the country through aggression and the opium trade. Lovell is killed by Robin after they leave Canton, and it is later revealed that he was colluding with the merchants to bait China into aggression so that the British government would declare war.