The Earl of Lovelace | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Hon. William King (1805-02-21)21 February 1805 |
| Died | 29 December 1893(1893-12-29) (aged 88) |
| Spouses | |
| Children |
|
| Parents |
|
 | This article'slead sectionmay be too short to adequatelysummarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead toprovide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article.(October 2023) |
William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace,FRS (21 February 1805 – 29 December 1893), styledThe Lord King from 1833 to 1838, was an English nobleman and scientist. He was the husband ofLord Byron's daughterAda, today remembered as a pioneeringcomputer scientist.
Lovelace was the eldest son ofPeter King, 7th Baron King, and his wife, Lady Hester Fortescue, granddaughter ofGeorge Grenville. The politician the Hon.Peter John Locke King was his younger brother.
Educated at Eton and Trinity, he entered the diplomatic service and became secretary to Lord Nugent. He succeeded in the barony in 1833 when his father died.[1] He performed architectural work in his houses.[2]
.jpg)
In 1835, Lord King (as he then was) married as his first wifeAda Byron, the only daughter of the poetLord Byron and his wifeAnne Isabella Milbanke. He was createdViscount Ockham andEarl of Lovelace in 1838, and appointedLord Lieutenant of Surrey in 1840, a post he held until his death.[3] The Lovelace title was chosen to mark the fact that Ada was, through the families of Byron, Milbanke, Noel and Lovelace, a descendant of the extinctBarons Lovelace. The couple had three children:Byron (born 1836),Anne (born 1837), andRalph (born 1839). Lady Lovelace died in 1852, leaving her husband, in his forties, a widower.
In 1860, the Earl's eldest son, Byron, succeededhis maternal grandmother to become 12thBaron Wentworth according to its special remainder. However, he died, still unmarried, just two years later, and his brotherRalph became 13th Baron Wentworth. In 1861, Ralph assumed by Royal licence the surname of Milbanke in lieu of Noel.
Lord Lovelace was appointedColonel of the2nd Royal Surrey Militia on 14 August 1852. He resigned this command on 11 April 1870, when he was appointedHonorary Colonel of the regiment (which became the3rd Battalion, Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment), a position he held until his death.[3][4][5] By Royal licence, in 1860 he assumed the additional surname and arms of Noel, as well as the arms of Wentworth.
In 1865 he remarried, to the widow Jane Crawford Jenkins. They had one child, Lionel (1865–1929), who would eventually succeed as 3rd Earl of Lovelace in 1906.
Lord Lovelace had three homes:Ockham Park, Surrey; Ben Damph Estate onLoch Torridon inRoss-shire; and a house in London.
Lord Lovelace acquiredHorsley Towers (now a hotel) inEast Horsley and was patron of theparish church funding the rebuilding of the chancel and the nave in 1869.[6] He also rebuilt the wall of the churchyard which included a number of architectural features such as the gazebo and its family crest-engraved walls. He planned for his death 20 years before he died when he began work on a mausoleum in another corner of the churchyard. This mausoleum has recently been restored.[7]
He had fifteen bridges, known as theLovelace Bridges, constructed on his estate inEast Horsley to facilitate the transport of timber by horse-drawn carts. The bridges were built where the tracks crossed existing bridleways or roads. Ten bridges still exist.
In 1886, the Earl purchased Ben Damph Lodge and its surrounding 12,000 acre sporting estate at the east end ofLoch Torridon,[8][9] inRoss-shire, Scotland. In 1889, he became a promoter of theAultbea Railway.[10]
At his death on 29 December 1893, his titles as Earl of Lovelace, Viscount Ockham and Baron King passed to his second (and eldest surviving) sonRalph, who was already the 13th Baron Wentworth. The first Earl of Lovelace was buried in his mausoleum in the churchyard of Martin's Church,East Horsley, which still contains his tomb and that of his second wife.[11]
The Lovelace title was chosen to mark the fact that Ada was, through the families of Byron, Milbanke, Noel and Lovelace, a descendant of the Barons Lovelace of Hurley
Lovelace became famous in his time for the arched trusses in the collar roof of his banqueting hall which had been bent by the application of steam heat. This process was one on which Lord Lovelace became an authority. He delivered a paper to the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1849, two years after his banqueting hall was built, and received praise from no less a person than the great engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Surrey 1840–1893 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Earl of Lovelace 1838–1893 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
| Preceded by | Baron King 1833–1893 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
