Experts to give Lovelace talk

TWO members of the Hinckley and District Museum board of directors, Hugh Beavin (President) and Stan Rooney (Co-Opted), have been invited to talk about the life of Ada, Countess Lovelace, of Kirby Mallory, the pioneering computer and mathematics genius.

Tata Technologies, the multi national company, with offices in Warwick, invited the pair to speak about Ada as an important role model to encourage young women to consider careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths - areas historically dominated by young male entrants.

The talk comes on the back of the pair’s recent talk at the unveiling of a blue plaque to Ada at Kirby Mallory in October.

Mr Beavin has been lecturing about Ada Lovelace to a number of groups locally and Mr Rooney has taken a significant interest in the mathematical and computing side of her activities.

Ada was the daughter of poet Lord Byron, whose country seat was Kirby Mallory Hall. She was intellectually gifted at mathematics and considered how a computer with a computer program might work. She collaborated with fellow mathematician Charles Babbage.

Ann Crabtree, Hinckley and District Museum Chairman, said: “This is a real feather in the cap for the museum. Our local experts have been invited by a prestigious international company, in a prestigious setting to effectively “export” local heritage to a wider audience.

“Ada Lovelace is an internationally recognised figure and her time at Kirby Mallory Hall was an important time in her life.”

“(She) will form one of our exhibits, now in preparation for 2018. The exhibit will be called; “The Calculating Countess”. Ada was a colourful figure and even recently featured as a character in the dramatisation of the reign of Queen Victoria. She certainly deserves to be more known locally and we hope our exhibit will bring her to the fore.”