Announcements of deaths and obituaries

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,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 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 the first few months I worked on the Input/Output system, which, I seem to remember, was called the Annexe. and fulfilled the same functions as the Channels in the later IBM 360 machines. But another part of the machine began to present problems, and I spent much of my two-year stay with the Company on the task of overcoming them. In both LEO 1 and LEO 2. the main memory consisted of mercury delay lines, using techniques originally developed for radar during World War 2. In LEO 1. the ultrasonic pulses circulating around the delay lines were of about 1 microsecond duration, but LEO 2 sought to be more ambitious, and reduced the pulse duration to 0.25 microseconds. This called for electronic circuits whose performance was close to the limits of what was then possible, and the design of these circuits was my main task. In the course of this work, the Research Department moved from Shepherds Bush to Minerva Road, and for the last few months of my time at LEO, I was Assistant Manager of the Research Department immediately under John Pinkerton. By the summer of 1957 LEO 2ﾒs storage problems had been overcome, and I felt that it was time to move on.

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 giants of the LEO enterprise.  Frank Land published a personal recollections of TRT  in the Spring 2020 edition of LEO Matters, page 10. http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/LeoNewsletterSpring2020.pdf
http://www.kzwp.com/lyons.pensioners/obituary2T.htm
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/101160

The IT History Society includes a profile of TRT at
       http://www.ithistory.org/honor-roll/mr-thomas-raymond-thompson

papers. It has been copied by Neville Lyons and is available from him.  David Caminer in a handwritten note on John Simmons and TRT penned before the Guildhall Conference adds: Thompson was a very different personality from John Simmons. He was a very able organiser and an enthusiastic disciple. He had been Simmons’ right-hand man for more than 20 years. He was an enthusiast for what he was engaged upon and his enthusiasm was infectious. He and Simmons were an optimally matched pair: Simmons quiet and chill, Thompson sometimes noisy and often ebullient.

His speed of uptake was phenomenal. How much of the report of the seminal report of the trip to America came from him and how much from Standingford is not known, but his agile mind was certainly capable of picking it up all by himself. Frequently he raced ahead of anyone explaining something to him and became impatient if the other person didn’t keep up with him. He would put himself in the front row before the computer staff explaining  the construction or programming of the machine and could always be relied upon to jump out of his chair after a few minutes and declare ‘ What you mean to say is this!’ Sometimes he was right, but not always. 

His quick uptake and blatant enthusiasm meant that Thompson quite unconsciously thought that he was more responsible for some new ideas than he really was. Sometimes this was resented but more often the engineer or systems or programming person responsible was more than happy that the idea would now be carried forward with Thompson’s fire and energy behind it.

If he had a fault it was insensitivity. He had come from a humble background and was proud of his success, but he couldn’t quite understand that members of his staff could also be naturally bright without having been to Cambridge. … (almost notes at this stage)

He was equally .. about everything he did whether it was bridge or rugby or amateur dramatics. In the senior dining room in which he lunched he was well-known for ‘Thompson’s Laws of England.’

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/d8iq55jaz2uv7lmq9uge0/TRThompson-appreciation.doc?dl=0&rlkey=rk32m88gmzcajzz7pel35ufyx papers. It has been copied by Neville Lyons and is available from him.  David Caminer in a handwritten note on John simmons and TRT penned before the Guildhall Conference adds:  

John Tomlinson  Died 2012,  LEO Operator, 1962 LEO II/1, 1966 LEO III/1
Career 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 IT Manager. Subsequently became responsible for Information Security
First for Northumbria Police and then Leicester.

From Simon Tomlinson: My Dad was John Tomlinson who worked for Leo during the 60`s. I was a very small boy. We lived in Marlow and Dad used to commute to London to Leo. 
My Dad was far more intelligent than me and had a great sense of humour. I have a couple of copies of `Myopic` which reflect this! There are a few quotes of my cheeky replies to him from certain situations at home which are lovely to have in black and white. 
I can`t tell you much, apart from the few attached photo`s as I was so small, but I do remember one funny story. Apparently,  one night shift worker had an air bed so that he could have a bit of a kip after a pub visit earlier on in the shift. Everyone would work extra hard to cover their colleagues `free time`. but, one night everyone came running out of the store room gasping after the offending worker had let the stale air out of his air bed after it had been inflated several days earlier after a few pints and a couple of ciggies! Dad ended up running the computer department for Leicester City Council and we moved up here in 1972. It was regretted by Dad in hindsight, but that is all in the past.

From Bob Stevenson: I knew your father well. We both worked as operators/shift leaders on the Leo III/1 computer, at Hartree House in Queensway, which figures in 3 of the photos you have, and often went for meals together in Queensway or Westbourne Park, where there was a great choice of restaurants. When I was Chief Op. I was asked to nominate someone to go to a Moscow computer show and help demonstrate a Leo III computer. Naturally I proposed John, who had all the necessary skills and was probably a bit more presentable than some of the other ops! I also remember that John took home one of the large punched card machines that were being scrapped and set it up in his garage, presumably hoping to have a profitable home business. I don’t know how it went but he didn’t give up his day job.

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 – 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, Cranfield and the London School of Economics, finishing his career as Dean and Professor at Middlesex University.  Maintained his interest in LEO and its achievements via the LEO Foundation and the LEO Computers Society.
See CCH
http://comjnl.oxfordjournals.org/content/52/3/388.short
http://www.leo-computers.org.uk/images/colintullytribute.pdf

Tributes to Colin have been contributed by many of his colleagues and friends including Darren Dalcher, Brian Randell, Nigel Dolby, Adrian Rymell, Taz Daughtrey, Ian wand, Ralph LandPatricia McQuade and John Lindsay.  They have been collected in one document in archived in Dropbox at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/5uljbewmvy15jy5zqs3r0/Colin-Tully-tributes-060108.doc?dl=0&rlkey=kq1ffmy4coiwr1om8p9g99put

Colin’s CV and other career details can be found in Dropbox at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/zw946gi2wboj6mdzj302i/Colin-Tully-CVs.doc?dl=0&rlkey=dwj1k5rt92ph1u5n439c0fiij

Chris Tyson – Born 1941 in Scotland, died 1970. Joined LEO at Hartree House as a trainee programmer in September 1963.

Wallace Weaving – Born 1931, died 6^th 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 CCH
Pam Garnsey (with some added and fond reflections from Neil Lamming, Mike Benton and Kent & Sheilagh Brooks)

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