Culture And Memory

Preserving the legacy of Tommy Flowers: uncovering lost histories of mid-20th Century computing innovation

Our idea is to unearth 'untold stories' of mid-20th century heritage, to promote historical investigation and inspire innovation in young people, through learning about the hidden histories of Tommy Flowers' groundbreaking work in engineering and early computing. Everyone now knows Alan Turing's story (and rightly so) but this is about breaking the 'class ceiling' telling the story of an East End bricklayer's son who literally changed the world, but because of the secrecy around his wartime work, was given little recognition during his lifetime (1905-1998) As a group of local activists in 2018, we established a community pub in Tommy's name on the Poplar estate where he was born/raised. But this important social hub is being demolished in summer 2025 so we need to preserve and develop Tommy's legacy and protect the collection of artefacts we have built up around his memory, including a mural and a Colossus memorial window.