Placing a statue of wartime codebreaker Alan Turing on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth has been backed by an LGBT+ armed forces charity.
Outgoing Defence Secretary Ben Wallace made the suggestion in the House of Commons last week as he addressed a review into the service and experience of LGBT veterans who served under the pre-2000 ban on homosexuality in the armed forces.
The plinth currently has no permanent display, and the London mayor’s Fourth Plinth Commission uses it to showcase temporary artistic installations.
LGBT+ armed forces charity Fighting With Pride’s executive chairman, Craig Jones, told the PA news agency that the organisation is supportive of placing a statue of Mr Turing on the plinth.
He said: “Alan Turing is a man who today the United Kingdom is immensely proud of, but in his life he suffered greatly because of his sexual orientation.
“His achievements changed the world, and therefore it would be incredible to see him recognised in this way in a position just yards away from Admiral Lord Nelson whose immortal memory we celebrate.
“I think (Mr Turing’s) treatment in his time is a stark contrast to the debt we recognise we owe him today.”
“It would recognise that LGBT+ people have, like all others, met the nation’s call during our most difficult times,” he said, adding that Mr Turing was “right up there with the top five people who helped win the Second World War, so I think that makes him worthy”.
The Defence Secretary’s backing followed an apology to LGBT service veterans for historical mistreatment.
Mr Wallace described Mr Turing as “probably the greatest war hero” of the Second World War.
His achievements changed the world, and therefore it would be incredible to see him recognised in this way— Craig Jones, Fighting With Pride
Although the Defence Secretary did not name Trafalgar Square, he said it would be the “greatest tribute” to the success of someone from the LGBT community for a statue of Mr Turing to be placed on “the blank plinth, (with) the mayor’s gimmicks or whatever it is every other five minutes”.
Conservative MP Anthony Mangnall (Totnes) said he would “absolutely support the Defence Secretary’s campaign to put up a statue of (Mr) Turing in Trafalgar Square, if that’s what he’s launching”.
Often considered to be the father of computer science, Mr Turing played a key role in deciphering coded messages used by Nazi Germany.
Just seven years after the war ended, he was convicted of gross indecency for his relationship with a man, which led to the removal of his security clearance and meant he was no longer able to work for Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
He was chemically castrated following his conviction in 1952 and died in 1954 at the age of 41.
Mr Turing was later given a posthumous royal pardon, and a tribute to him now features on the £50 note.
Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth currently features a sculpture by Malawi-born artist Samson Kambalu.
Installed in September last year, the piece, titled Antelope, depicts a 1914 photograph of European missionary John Chorley and Malawian Baptist preacher John Chilembwe, who fought against colonial rule.
Previous Fourth Plinth commissions including Marc Quinn’s sculpture of pregnant Alison Lapper, Yinka Shonibare’s scaled-down replica of HMS Victory contained in a glass bottle, and Heather Phillipson’s sculpture The End, which depicted a whirl of cream topped with a drone and a fly.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The Fourth Plinth is one of the world’s most renowned sculpture prizes and continues to provide an important platform for artists, transforming careers and supporting a diverse range of voices that are often underrepresented in the art world. The programme was started in 1998 and there are no plans for it to change.”
