John Aris:-John Aris – 1934 – 2010 Educated at Eton and Oxford, with a degree and life-long interests in the classics, joined LEO as a programmer in 1958. A career in LEO and its successor companies, including Chief Business Systems Engineer for ICL in 1968 was followed by heading the computer department of the Imperial Group, […]
Antony (Tony) Bernard Barnes:-Antony (Tony) Bernard Barnes – 1926-2000. Tony Barnes joined Lyons as a Management Trainee after graduating in 1947 working in the Statistical Office. He transferred to the LEO programming team in November 1950 where his talents were quickly recognised. In 1955 he accompanied Thomas Thompson to the USA on a six-week tour, visiting several computer […]
Maurice Blackburn:-Maurice Blackburn – died 2016, LEO Engineer. See also reminiscences of Anthony Robin Davies below. Tony Morgan writes “Maurice was very interesting person, a real gentleman with a small moustache. He had originally been a pilot with British South American Airways before it merged with British Overseas Airways. He was in Development at Minerva Road and his […]
Peter Bird:-Peter Bird – born 1934, died 6th August 2017. After a career in the Merchant Navyachieving his Masters certificate ‘discovered’ computing, studied programming and applied for Jobs in computing. Interviewed by Lyons for an operator job and joined Lyons 1964 as an operator on the LEO III. Promoted rapidly to Operations Manager, then overall Systems […]
George Booth:-George Booth – Died 19th September 1959, aged 90, Company Secretary and Director of J. Lyons, made the case to the Lyons Board for the company to commit itself to build a business computer and to collaborate with Cambridge University with its EDSAC project by providing some funding for the project in exchange for help […]
Dan Broido:-Dan Broido – 1903-1990 Born in Siberia of politically active parents, refugee to Germany from Soviet oppression, took degree in Mechanical Engineering in Berlin, and became an engineer at the firm of Rotaprint, who sent him to the UK in 1934 to work in their London branch. Worked for Caterpillar Tractors during World War II […]
David Caminer:-David Caminer – 1915 – 2008 joined Lyons before World War II as a Management Trainee, his career was interrupted by National Service, losing a leg in the battlefields of North Africa, before returning to Lyons and being appointed head of the Systems Research Office ,followed by taking a prominent and leading role in the […]
Jackie Caminer:-Jackie Caminer – died January 2017 aged 94, wife of David Caminer. Her daughter Hilary Caminer writes: ` My mother, Jackie, died this morning peacefully at home aged 94. Without her, my father’s LEO work would have been much harder for him – they were heroes and heroines those LEO partners. She had a fine […]
Hamish Carmichael:-Hamish Carmichael – died July 2017 aged 83. Hamish after a career with ICL became an active member of Computer Conservation Society. Always a good friend of LEO. Author of book of reminiscences and stories of ICL (including LEO) employees. Computer Conservation Society obituary Hamish Carmichael
John Coombs:-John Coombs 1927 – 2012 John joined LEO as a Trainee Programmer in March 1954 while he was still technically on Demob Leave from the British Army in which he had served for some nine years. His army service included time in Northern Ireland and long spells in the Middle East. The army sponsored him […]
Mary Coombs:-John Coombs 1927 – 2012 John joined LEO as a Trainee Programmer in March 1954 while he was still technically on Demob Leave from the British Army in which he had served for some nine years. His army service included time in Northern Ireland and long spells in the Middle East. The army sponsored him […]
Mary Coombs:-Mary Clare Coombs (née Blood, 4 February 1929 – 28 February 2022). Mary gained fame as the first women world-wide to write a business application on a computer – the LEO I installed by Lyons at Cadby Hall. Her fame was such that she received the accolade of full obituaries in the Guardian, The Daily Telegraph. The […]
Mary Coombs:-It is with great regret that we report that Mary Coombs, (née Blood), one of the LEO pioneers passed away on 28th February 2022 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, at the age of 93. We print below the obituary written by John Aeberhard and then a personal tribute to Mary from her friend and fellow-programmer, Frank Land. On […]
Mary Coombs:-A tribute to Mary Coombs by Frank Land Transcribed by Hilary Caminer from the recording of the LEO Computers Society zoom on 25/3/2022. This zoom session was held in Mary’s honour. ‘I want to say a few words about Mary who died so recently and tragically. I knew Mary as a personal friend and much […]
Betty Cooper:-Betty Cooper (better known under her maiden name Betty Newman), sister in law of Pat Cooper (Mrs Pat Fantl) Sadly Betty died on 31st August. She worked from 1955 to 1964 on both LEO l and LEO ll at Lyons. Her Oral History is noted below in the Oral History section. Applications she made programming contributions […]
Alan Clarke:-Alan Clarke died December 2019. Alex Woolard (LEO Engineer) reports: I have to report the sad news that Alan Clarke who worked at Minerva Road, Kidsgrove and Winsford from 1962 until the Winsford plant closed, has died. Alan was a commissioning engineer working on Leo III peripherals, and subsequently System 4, and the New Range […]
Hilary Cropper, DBE:-Hilary Cropper, DBE, born January 1941, died December 2004. After taking a mathematics degree at Salford University, and a first job with an engineering company, Hilary in 1970 joined ICL, working on operating software for the System 4 range, Though initially working in part-time positions to help raise her children, she was later promoted to […]
Joe Crouch:-Joe Crouch – Died 2018.Joe Crouch joined LEO as a trainee programmer and quickly rose to Senior Programmer/Consultant Status, working at Hartree House. When Ilford Limited acquired a LEO II Joe headed the LEO team helping to establish the computer’s systems. Subsequently he joined Leo Fantl in South Africa as head of the Programming group. […]
Ian Stewart Crawford:-Ian Stewart Crawford. Born 20th March: Died 20th August 2018. Born in Eltham, Taranaki, New Zealand. Oldest of 3 born to Dan a doctor and Kathleen a nurse. Excellent sportsman and chess player. Won the Auckland chess championship. At 16 he left New Plymouth Boys High and worked for a travel company. When he was […]
Mike Daniels:-Mike Daniels – died March 2018, worked in Service Bureau, Hartree House in Programming and Support 1962-1966. He went on to work with several companies, including UNISYS, RCA (in America), III, an American Company back here. He worked on computer systems all his working life, all over the world. He was mainly involved in print/newspapers […]
Mary Josephine (Jo) Davies:-Mary Josephine (Jo) Davies , maiden name McCann), D.O.B. 1961 – ?? Started as a LEO II Programmer at Wills, married Keith Davies a member of the Wills programming team, but left Wills to become a LEO lll Programmer and later LEO marketing. Became partner of Colin Tully until his death. Peter Byford remembers her on his […]
Bob Day:-Bob Day – Died 2018. Bob was recruited in 1960 by Leo Fantl to join the newly formed LEO/Rand Mines collaborative venture in Johannesburg, South Africa. Bob, of Afrikan descent, was one of a handfulrecruited, all of high quality joining within that first period. Bob stayed in a senior role until his retirement. Leo Fantl writes […]
Leo Fantl:-Leo Fantl – 1924-2000 Came to UK in June 1939 as a refugee from Czechoslovakia. Joined RAF age 18 and received technical training. Recruited by Lyons as Technical Trainee in the Planning Department in 1949, but was transferred to the LEO enterprise in 1950 to join Derek Hemy as a pioneer programmer. Despite a lack of […]
Pat Fantl, (Cooper):-Pat Fantl, (Cooper), born in USA, came to England, joining LEO Computers as a programmer in 1955 the third women to join the LEO group after Mary Blood and Betty Newman (who became her sister-in-law). As part of LEO Fantl’s payroll team, contributing to a series of applications including those of Ford Motor Company, Stewarts […]
Gordon Foulger:-Gordon Foulger – 1942-2011 After graduating from Queen Mary University with a degree in General Science he became a LEO programmer seconded to work on GPO programs, including the Giro and telephone billing. He became a database specialist and consultant as his career evolved.http://www.gordonfoulger.co.uk/obituary.php
Bob Gibson:-Bob Gibson – born 1927, died August 2016. He trained as electronic engineer as part of National Service. After working as an electronic research engineer in Civil Service, recruited by LEO as trainee maintenance engineer. Took responsibility for training customer engineers and rose to oversee all LEO training as well as managing engineering maintenance services, […]
John Gosden:-John Gosden – 1930-2003 Joined LEO as a programmer in 1953 after taking a degree (pass) in Mathematics at Cambridge University and made rapid progress with his understanding of software. Played a key role in the design of systems software for LEO II and LEO III. Left LEO in 1961 to emigrate to the USA […]
Kit Grindley:-Kit Grindley – born in Clapham< London, April1929, died October 26th 2018 in Sydney Australia. Kit Grindley after graduation from LSE in 1956, started as a Management Trainee in Lyons in 1956 and was a part of the LEO team of LEO I and LEO II programmers. Kit developed ideas about a language for expressing […]
John Grover:-John Grover – Born December 1924, died 2000. After National Service in the RAF where he gained his pilot’s wings, joined Lyons as a Management Trainee in 1947 working on Bakery Accounts. Recruited to the new LEO team as a programmer in 1950, took responsibility for a number of the early LEO applications Including the […]
Peter Guest:-Peter Guest b.1934, died 1995 aged 61, LEO Maintenance Engineer Margaret Guest, his widow writes: Peter’s education badly disrupted during Wartime, leaving Wm. Penn School, Peckham, London aged 16 in 1951. Attended Woolwich Polytechnic 1951-55 for part time day release, obtained ONC in civil engineering while working for Sir Murdock MacDonald & Partners as a […]
Hugo Gunning:-Hugo Gunning 1933 – 2017, died of septicaemia. John Daines writes “I remember seeing him first in Hartree House, in a lift in 1962 or 63. Immaculately dressed, he worked on Lector but not an engineer, probably testing. He subsequently worked with and for me as part of the Commissioning Operators team in Minerva Road. […]
Peter Gyngell:-Peter Gyngell – born 23 February 1930, died 6thJune 2018 at his home in Wollongong, Australia. Peter was born in Wales, graduated from RADA in 1948, but did not follow an acting career. He became involved with LEO in 1958 working for the Ford Motor Company on their LEO II computer at Aveley on the huge […]
Douglas Hartree:-Douglas Hartree – 27.03.1897-12.02.1958, eminent Cambridge Scientist noted for his contribution to a number of fields of study including early computing – as an example he was the first civilian to programme ENIAC – played a crucial role in the collaboration between Cambridge University and Lyons in the development of LEO. “Hartree’s fourth and final […]
George A. Hayter:-George A. Hayter– Died April 2015 in Northern Cyprus. Joined LEO about 1964/5, on systems and sales, at Allied Suppliers, started at Hartree House, then Computer House and Stag Place. Subsequently worked at BOAC under Peter Hermon, then headed the Stock Exchange computer transformation, before setting up his own consultancy for the financial sector.
Derek Hemy:-Derek Hemy – !920 –2000, Joined Lyons as Management Trainee 1939. Did war service in Royal Corps of Signals. Returned to Lyons in 1946 in Systems Analysis Office under David Caminer. Selected as first LEO programmer, a role in which his performance was outstanding. Left LEO in 1955 to senior role in EMI’s venture into […]
Ray Hennessy:-Ray Hennessy –Programmer, consultant, LEO Computers Society stalwart and Committee Member, spent 32 years at LEO before retirement. Born 1934 died 15th November 2016. Oral History edited transcript and recording and Obituary by John Daines
Peter Hermon:-Peter Hermon – Trailblazer in Computer Management. One of the very first computer specialists to make it all the way to the board of a major corporation, Peter Hermon blazed a trail and set standards for successful computer management that were years ahead of their time, most notably for Dunlop Rubber Company from 1959-65 and […]
Mavis Hinds:-Mavis Hinds – 1929-2009 Worked for the Meteorological Office and used LEO I for weather forecasting – the earliest use of computers for modelling the weather in the early 1950s.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wea.502/abstract See also Wikepidia: She went on to work with Bushby in using the Lyons Electronic Office (LEO), an early computer developed by J. Lyons & […]
Goffrey Howells:-Goffrey Howells We are sad to report the death in January 2020 in Australia of Geoff Howells, who worked for ICL in Melbourne for 24 years from 1965 – 1988. It was Geoff who with Anthea Gedge, a colleague, started the regular reunions in Melbourne for former ICL staff. Some of you will have read […]
Lord Edmund Ironside:-Lord Edmund Ironside, born 21.09.1924, died 13.01.2020. Lord Ironside, an active member of House of Lords, joined first Marconi and in 1959 English Electric. On the merger of English Electric, Marconi and LEO Computers to form EELM, Ironside was appointed head of LEO Government Sales, becoming involved in some of the major purchases by the […]
Derek Jolly:-Derek Jolly – Born 1930, Died June 2018. Joined LEO circa 1953-54, After grammar school started training as an accountant, but decided to try something else and was interviewed by David Caminer, and Tony Barnes and offered a job with LEO I as an operator. Worked on LEO I, LEO II and LEO III. Became […]
Ernest Joseph Kaye:-Ernest Joseph Kaye – 1922-2012 Joined John Pinkerton as his assistant in 1949 in the design of LEO I and later LEO II, having been recruited as an electronic engineer from GEC. Later took on the role of procurement officer for the engineering side of LEO. Retired in 1968 to the family firm of renting […]
Mike Keen:-Mike Keen – Mike died on 27th January, 2020, the day after his 83rd birthday, following a long illness. He was always proud of his association with LEO, starting with his days at Minerva Road
Ernest Lenearts:-Ernest Lenearts – 1910-1997 Despite an interest in things technical his parents persuaded him to take a clerical job at J. Lyons starting in the late 1920s. Bored by his job he asked for more technical training in the hope of getting a job in the Lyons laboratories. His chance to progress came during World […]
Diane Lewis:-Diane Lewis (nee Bray), died March 8th 2020, LEO Programmer and wife of John Lewis, LEO Programmer and Consultant.
George Manley:-George Manley – 1938-2011 LEO engineer, rising from apprentice to Chief Commissioning Engineer. After an illustrious career with LEO was headhunted by Honeywell before in 1974 returning to what was now ICL. http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/GeorgeManleyObit.pdf
Stuart Megan:-Stuart Megan, died July 2022. Stuart worked as a computer operator – shift leader – on the Leo 3/35 at the Bath SWGB site, working like about 10 others on the LEO III and 4.50 for BARIC on permanent night shift. He stayed with computers moving to the US and was one of the early […]
Donald Moore:-Donald Moore – 1920-2013,started his career in computing by setting up and managing the Army Payroll Centre with an IBM 705, subsequently took over the Shell-Mex & BP LEO III computer Centre at Hemel Hempstead.
Tony Morgan:-Tony Morgan, June 1937- April 4th 2020. Tony Morgan, who has died aged 83 after contracting Covid-19, was one of the heroes of the early days of computers. As a computer engineer from the late 1950s, he was responsible for the installation of the pioneering Leo computers worldwide, including for the GPO (now BT) for telephone billing. […]
Godfrey (Geoff) Parry:-Belated Obituary for Godfrey (Geoff) Parry died 9th April 2010, first secretary of the LEO Computers Society by Peter Byford, chair, LEO Computers Society charity and Alan Thomson (ICL editor pensioners website)- first published in 2010 but in a limited form. Geoff died 9th April 2010, aged 70 years. He had been suffering from Parkinson’s […]
Robert E Peel:-Robert E Peel – Died 2015. He was an intrinsic part of the Master Routine team with such luminaries as Adrian Rymell, Colin Tully, Nigel Dolby, Sheila Milne and I’m sure a few others whose names I have forgotten. The Intercode Translator team interacted closely with the Master programmers and I remember Bob as a […]
Margaret Perrot:-Margaret Perrot died on 28th November 2020. She was a pioneer with the service bureau of LEO at Hartree House, and she was the last person to go to Cadby Hall to do a small program amendment on Leo 1 just before it was scrapped.
John Pinkerton:-John Pinkerton – 1919-1997 After doing research into radar systems and receiving a PhD at Cambridge recommended by Maurice Wilkes to Lyons as the Engineer to design and develop. He joined Lyons in January 1949 and started to build the small team of engineers which succeeded in building LEO I as a machine based on […]
Elwyn Rees:-Elwyn Rees – Passed away on Jan 2 2024 In the 1960’s Elwyn was a pioneer in the use of computers in education and was the recipient of the HO Wills LEO computer after it was decommissioned and donated to Linwood Secondary school in Leicestershire. He then proceeded to repurpose the machine as the first […]
Clive Richards:-Clive Richards, CBE, Financial and technology entrepreneur, philanthropist born 1st September 1937, died 16th April 2021 Twenty years before the Big Bang in the City of London in 1986, there was a small but important bang at the City offices of Wedd Durlacher Mordaunt & Co. Extract from obituary published in Times newspaper on 1st […]
Anthony Salmon:-Anthony Salmon – 1916-2000 A member of the ruling Salmon and Gluckstein family, founders of J. Lyons & Co, was assigned Managing Director of LEO Computers Limited on its foundation in 1954 and became a main board Director of the parent company in 1955. He played an active role in promoting LEO sales using his […]
Ann Sayce:-Ann Sayce (nee Tunbridge). She worked at Charles House (GPO) on LEO 326 between 1964 -67 -note after this she worked at Westminster Bank and CEGB-Victoria, writing IBM as she says, “rubbish”. Finally teaching computer studies at schools and adult education courses.
Ray Shaw:-Ray Shaw LAST OF THE ORIGINAL DESIGN TEAM THAT BUILT LEO Ray Shaw, the last remaining link with the original design team that built the world’s first business computer, LEO (Lyons Electronic Office) has died aged 98. Recruited into J Lyons & Co in 1949 for his expertise in radar and radio telecommunications by the […]
John Simmons – 1902-1985:-John Simmons – 1902-1985 after gaining a first class degree in Mathematics from Cambridge University he was recruited by George Booth, Lyons company secretary as a Management Trainee and statistician with a brief to review and develop the Lyons business processes. Under his tutelage many innovations to business processes were introduced and in 1932 he […]
John Smythson, born 1931, died December 2019 aged 88:-His wife Judy writes: “John read Mathematics at Trinity , Cambridge but changed to English after the first year as the school he had been evacuated to during the war had not covered Applied Maths and he found at Trinity that he had too much to catch up on . It says a lot for […]
Robin Stanley-Jones – Died 2013,:-Robin Stanley-Jones – Died 2013, joined as a technician around 1961 and worked at Minerva Rd; did 24/7 shifts on III/1 at Hartree House; then went with LEO III/8 to Australia (Tubemakers of Australia) (1963?). He “became ICL. He remained in IT, mostly with Digital Equipment, until his retirement
George F Stevens – 1911-2002:-George F Stevens – 1911-2002,senior Lyons manager who took responsibility for the running of the Lyons LEO Computers when LEO Computers Limited merged with English Electric. He subsequently oversaw the switch by Lyons to IBM computers.http://www.kzwp.com/lyons.pensioners/obituary2S2.htm
Matt Taub Died December 2021:-Matt Taub Died December 2021 joined the Research Department of LEO in the summer of 1955 after working for about five years on the application of electronics in telephony. Left LEO in 1957. LEO 1 was already in operation, and LEO 2 under development in what had been a tea warehouse near Shepherds Bush. For […]
Thomas Raymond Thompson (TRT) – 1907-1976:-Thomas Raymond Thompson (TRT) – 1907-1976. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) includes a profile of T.R.T by Peter Bird, online May 2011. The Lyons Mail published an appreciation of TRT in its April 1976 issue. This can be found in the Warwick University Simmons archive filed as 383-S4-14-2-9.jpg. TRT was one of the […]
John Tomlinson:-John Tomlinson Died 2012, LEO Operator, 1962 LEO II/1, 1966 LEO III/1Career in computing. Worked on LEO III as a programmer on Postmaster Accounting System – 1970/71 – and later for ICL on Post Office System 4 computers. After leaving Post Office joined ICL Dataskill. Then various jobs with Corning, Thorn/EMI and Electrolux where he became […]
Peter Titman:-Peter Titman, died 2019 – Ann Titman, Peter’s widow writes“I am writing to let you know that my husband Peter Titman died on Sunday 16th November. He designed the magnetic core for Leo 111, if I remember rightly, working with Dr Pinkerton. He left to join IBM and had a successful career in computing”
Colin Tully:-Colin Tully – 1936-2007 Joined LEO in 1960 after graduating with a degree in Economics from Cambridge. University. Became very much involved with Software Development including coding the LEO III Master Routine. Subsequently mixed an academic career with consultancy and practice at Standard Telephone and Cables. Had stints as an academic researcher at York University, […]
Chris Tyson:-Chris Tyson – Born 1941 in Scotland, died 1970. Joined LEO at Hartree House as a trainee programmer in September 1963.
Wallace Weaving:-Wallace Weaving – Born 1931, died 6th November, 2012. Wallace joined EELM in the UK but was transferred to EELM in Australia early in 1963. An account of his career was published in the Australian All Stars (ICL) magazine in 2013 and Can Be Viewed at CCHPam Garnsey (with some added and fond reflections from […]
Mike Webb:-Mike Webb – Died November 2015 at his home in Anglesey. Joined LEO as a mathematician and operational research specialist. After leaving LEO became an academic, first with the LSE and subsequently as head of business studies at Manchester Metropolitan University
David Wheeler:- David John Wheeler FRS (9 February 1927 – 13 December 2004) David Wheeler, a member of the team at Cambridge University which built EDSAC under Maurice Wilkes, had the distinction of being the first person to be awarded a PhD in compute science in the UK in 1951. He played an important role in the collaboration […]
Sir Maurice Wilkes – 1913-2010:-Sir Maurice Wilkes – 1913-2010 Maurice Wilkes, played a leading role in the design of the Cambridge University EDSAC Computer in the late 1940s and in return for some funding for that project from J. Lyons & Co, allowed the Lyons team to use the EDSAC design as the basis for LEO I, cooperating with […]
Alex Williams:-Alex Williams. (Words from Robert Timms) — A number of Alex’s LEO and ICL colleagues were among the gathering of family and friends who celebrated Alex’s life in Melbourne on 28 March, a beautiful sunny autumn afternoon. Maurice Roberts gave a moving Reflection alongside the warm family tributes.Alex was a great work colleague and a […]
John Frank Winterbottom (1928-2017):-John Frank Winterbottom (1928-2017) John Winterbottom spent almost 10 years working for LEO through its various reconfigurations, incorporating English Electric and Marconi, until further consolidation of the industry led to the merger with ICT and formation of ICL. He joined LEO in 1960, working at Minerva Road as a Design Engineer under John Pinkerton. He […]
Peter Wood – 1918-2013:-Peter Wood – 1918-2013, who has died at the age of 95, was given a good send-off in June, well attended by family, old boys and members of his bowls club. Peter was very modest about his war, but it was revealed that he was evacuated from Dunkirk, trained as a commando, fought in India […]
