Statue of computing pioneer gets green light

Ada Lovelace lived in Kirkby Mallory, near Hinckley, when she was a child

Plans to erect a statue of pioneering 19th Century mathematician Ada Lovelace in the town near to where she lived as a child have been approved.

Lovelace, the daughter of romantic poet Lord Byron, has been widely described as the world's first computer programmer, because of her work with inventor Charles Babbage on his idea for an "analytical engine" in the 1800s.

She was born in 1815 in London, but her childhood home was the now-demolished Kirkby Mallory Hall, some five miles (8km) from Hinckley in Leicestershire.

Councillors approved a proposal for a 2.5m (8ft 2in) bronze statue of her at a Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council planning meeting on Tuesday.

It will be placed on a plinth on Lower Bond Street outside the Hinckley campus of the North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College.

The Hinckley statue would be based on a portrait which used to hang in Downing Street

The project has been proposed by the Ada Lovelace in Hinckley Community Interest Company.

Project leader Stan Rooney said he was delighted the statue had passed the planning hurdle.

"Not only is Ada the most significant person to have lived in our borough, she's arguably the most important person, past or present, to have lived in our county," he added.

Mr Rooney said Lovelace, who died aged 36, had a "prodigious ability to comprehend mathematical theory" and that it was hoped having the statue outside the college would inspire girls and young women to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The statue will stand outside the college

The statue is currently being cast in Basingstoke.

"With a fair wind, we hope to have the statue erected in the next few months," Mr Rooney added.

The mould has already been used to cast a statue of Lovelace, commissioned by property developers, for a building in Westminster in London.

Mr Rooney said the sculptors who created it, Mary and Etienne Millner, had agreed to allow the mould to be used to replicate the original statue.

He said: "Without that, the cost of the project would have been at least two or three times higher, so we are very grateful to them."

The project has been entirely privately funded, Mr Rooney added.

He said the community interest company had raised £50,000 so far and was hoping to raise a further £50,000 through crowdfunding.

Planning officers told the meeting the borough council would take responsibility for the statue once it was in place.

Committee member Mark Bools said: "I'd like to congratulate campaigners and fundraisers because without them this wouldn't have been possible.

"An incredible amount of work has gone into this.

"It's an amazing site for it, close to the museum, and students will be inspired every time they walk past it."