Kirkby Hall

This house in the historic village of Kirkby Mallory was built as early as 1666 and was torn down in the latter part of the twentieth century.

Most notably, it belonged to Lady Byron's parents in the nineteenth century and was subsequently the childhood home of Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lady Byron and her husband, the famed Romantic poet, Lord Byron. Around the time of Lovelace's birth, Lord and Lady Byron's marriage had almost completely dissolved due in large part to his numerous affairs. Additionally, Lovelace was born in the city, but Lord Byron had been expecting a "glorious son" instead of a daughter and was dissapointed and critical of Lovelace's gender; these two facts combined led Lady Byron to leave Lord Byron and head to Kirkby Hall, where Ada Lovelace spent most of her childhood. Soon after, Lord Byron joined a revolution in Greece and died. Hence, Ada Lovelace never knew her father. 

The house went through various owners for just over another hundred years before being torn down.

Works cited:

“Kirkby Hall.” Hinckley, Past and Present, www.hinckleypastpresent.org/kirkbyhall.html.

Parent Map

Map: Race, Gender, Class, Sex

Coordinates

Latitude: 52.524481508641
Longitude: -0.636935881921

Timeline of Events Associated with Kirkby Hall

Date Event Manage
10 Dec 1815 to 27 Nov 1852

Life of Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace is recognized as the first ever computer programmer and the first computer scientist to realize computers had applications beyond simple calculation. She was the child of the famed Romantic poet Lord Byron, who was disappointed in her gender upon her birth. After Lord Byron's death, her mother, Lady Byron, decided to educate her in a way that distanced Ada from her father's literary and artistic interests; this resulted in her young daughter developing passions in fields uncommon to women of the age: science, philosophy, and above all, mathematics. 

In 1833, during her debut at court, she met the scientist Charles Babbage, and the two developed a friendship which changed their lives and the world forever. Babbage was developing a machine he called the "Analytical Engine", a device which could automatically produce calculations: the world's first computer. Lovelace's work on the Analytical Engine was invaluable to its development and dissemination of its workings. Though she faced antagonism at court and abroad for her gender, Babbage continued to champion Lovelace's capabilities, and they made great strides in the new field. Although the Analytical Engine itself was never completed, Lovelace later published the first algorithm to be carried out by the machine. 

Lovelace died in 1852 in London, only 36 years of age.

Works Cited:

“Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace.” Ada Lovelace: Founder of Scientific Computing, www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/lovelace.html.

Lovelace, Ada. “Sketch of the Analytical Engine Invented by Charles Babbage.” Sketch of The Analytical Engine, www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/sketch.html.