Herbert was born in 1894 the son of George and Mary Ann Ullyatt (née Lovett).
Both his parents were born in Lambley, George in 1855, the son of John and Mary Ullyatt, and Mary Ann in about 1856, the daughter of Joseph and Ann Lovett.
Mary Ann had at least three children before her marriage to George. All three children were baptised at Lambley Holy Trinity (mother's name only given): Alice b. Lambley 1875, Thomas Henry b. Bingham 1879 and George b. Basford 1882. In 1881 Mary Lovett (unm.) was living on Main Street, Lambley, with her children Alice (6) and Thomas (1); she was the head of household and working as a seamstress. Her third child, George, was born the following year. Two of her children, Thomas and George, were recorded on the 1891 Census (surname Ullyatt) living with George and Mary in Carlton and described as his sons. However, it appears that once they left home both boys used the surname Lovett. Alice (Lovett) has not yet been traced on the 1891 Census, but she married John Samuel Carter at Claycross St Bartholomew in 1900 and in 1901 they were living with his parents in Egstow, Chesterfield.
George and Mary Ann were married in 1884 and had five children between 1890 and 1898: Percy Aaron b. Lambley and Mabel, Herbert b. 1894, Eliza Ann and Mary who were all born in Carlton.
In 1891 George, a framework knitter, and Mary, a seamstress, were living on Southcliffe Road, Carlton, with Thomas (11), George (8) and Percy (1).
The family had moved to Chesterfield Street, Carlton, by 1901. In the household on the night of the census were George and Mary, George, a bricklayers' general labourer, Percy, Mabel (8), Herbert (6), Eliza (5) and Mary (2). Mary's son Thomas (Lovett), a lace dyer, was living in Sneinton, Nottingham, a boarder in the household of Thomas and Mary Bamford.
Thomas Lovett and his brother George Lovett both married in 1903; Thomas to Florence Duke and George to Sarah Knowles. Both families were living on Standhill Road, Carlton, in 1911. Thomas and George served with the army in France during the war.
George and Mary were living on Cromwell Street, Carlton, in 1911 with their five children, Percy a cotton lace dipper, Mabel and Eliza who were both working in a cotton mill, Herbert a brickyard labourer and Mary who was at school. Also in the household was their grandson, William Carter (9 b. New Tupton Derby), the eldest son of Alice and John Carter although his parents, who were living in North Wingfield, Derbyshire, also recorded their son living with them on the night of the census.
George and Mary were still living on Cromwell Street when their son Herbert was killed in 1917.
Mary died in 1929 (reg. J/F/M Basford) and in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled her husband George, a dyer's labourer, was living with their married daughter, Mabel Jelly (m. 1916), in Carlton. He died in 1947 (reg. J/F/M Basford).