David Williams-Ellis creates bust of Alan Turing – Sherborne School

16 Jul 2020

Alan Turing (Sherborne School 1926-31) is today one of the School’s most famous former pupils.  Sherborne resident, Kathryn Ballisat, inspired by Turing’s story and his connection to the town, has commissioned David Williams-Ellis, the internationally acclaimed sculptor most recently known for his sculpture to commemorate the D Day Landings, to create a bust of Turing.

Once cast in bronze, the bust will be unveiled in July by Turing’s nephew and former pupil of Sherborne School, Sir John Dermot Turing (Sherborne School 1974-78) and will stand on a plinth in the School grounds.

In 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War Alan Turing joined the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, where he was part of the team deciphering the Enigma machine. In 1942 Turing travelled to the USA to liaise with US codebreakers and in 1943 commenced work on speech encipherment at Hanslope Park. In 1945 Alan Turing joined the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington where he designed the ACE computer. Awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his war service, Turing gave the earliest known lecture to mention computer intelligence, so founding the field now known as Artificial Intelligence.