William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace


William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace FRS, known as the Hon. William King until 1833 and as the Lord King from 1833 to 1838, was an English nobleman and scientist.

Early life and background

Lovelace was the eldest son of Peter King, 7th Baron King, and his wife, Lady Hester Fortescue, granddaughter of George Grenville. The politician the Hon. Peter John Locke King was his younger brother. He succeeded in the barony in 1833. He was created Viscount Ockham and Earl of Lovelace in 1838, and appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey in 1840, a post he held until his death. On 25 November 1841, he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1860, he adopted the additional surname of "Noel".

Marriages and children

In 1835 Lord King married Hon. Augusta Ada Byron, the first computer programmer and the only legitimate daughter of poet George Byron, 6th Baron Byron. They had three children:
After Ada Lovelace died in 1852, he married Jane Jenkins. They had one son:
Lord Lovelace died in December 1893, aged 88, and was succeeded in the earldom by his second but eldest surviving son, Ralph.
, London