{"id":6754,"date":"2023-11-20T18:36:54","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T18:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/?p=6754"},"modified":"2023-11-20T18:37:06","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T18:37:06","slug":"mary-coombs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Coombs:"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mary Coombs recalls her work as an early computer programmer on LEO, the first
electronic office system, pioneered by the Lyons catering company.In the early 1950s, the
leading British catering firm, J Lyons & Co, pioneered the world’s first automated office
system. It was baptised LEO – the Lyons Electronic Office – and was used in stock-taking,
food ordering and payrolls for the company. Soon it was being hired out to UK government
ministries and other British businesses. Mary Coombs worked on the first LEO and was the
first woman to become a commercial computer programmer. She tells Mike Lanchin about her memories of those heady days when computers were still in their infancy.
Photo:LEO 2 in operation, 1957 (credit: The LEO Computers Society)
https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/w3csyx55<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary Coombs recalls her work as an early computer programmer on LEO, the firstelectronic office system, pioneered by the Lyons catering company.In the early 1950s, theleading British catering firm, J Lyons & Co, pioneered the world’s first automated officesystem. It was baptised LEO – the Lyons Electronic Office – and was used in stock-taking,food ordering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"yoast_head":"\nMary Coombs: - LEOPEDIA EDITORIAL SYSTEM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mary Coombs: - LEOPEDIA EDITORIAL SYSTEM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mary Coombs recalls her work as an early computer programmer on LEO, the firstelectronic office system, pioneered by the Lyons catering company.In the early 1950s, theleading British catering firm, J Lyons & Co, pioneered the world’s first automated officesystem. It was baptised LEO – the Lyons Electronic Office – and was used in stock-taking,food ordering […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LEOPEDIA EDITORIAL SYSTEM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-20T18:36:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-20T18:37:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"LEO editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"LEO editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/mary-coombs\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/mary-coombs\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"LEO editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea535d902aa97c04183bdce5dfbab398\"},\"headline\":\"Mary Coombs:\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-20T18:36:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-20T18:37:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/mary-coombs\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":130,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Media\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/mary-coombs\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/mary-coombs\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/mary-coombs\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mary Coombs: - LEOPEDIA EDITORIAL SYSTEM\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-20T18:36:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-20T18:37:06+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/mary-coombs\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/mary-coombs\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/mary-coombs\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mary Coombs:\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"LEO Computers Society\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"LEO Computers Socity\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/logo-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/logo-1.jpg\",\"width\":158,\"height\":70,\"caption\":\"LEO Computers Socity\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/LEO_(computer)\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea535d902aa97c04183bdce5dfbab398\",\"name\":\"LEO editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/853b61b2912bf2bff06794431698f0a91708b2a683e55e992a6987cddf79ebaa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/853b61b2912bf2bff06794431698f0a91708b2a683e55e992a6987cddf79ebaa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/853b61b2912bf2bff06794431698f0a91708b2a683e55e992a6987cddf79ebaa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"LEO editor\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\\\/leopedia.org\\\/author\\\/vince\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mary Coombs: - LEOPEDIA EDITORIAL SYSTEM","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mary Coombs: - LEOPEDIA EDITORIAL SYSTEM","og_description":"Mary Coombs recalls her work as an early computer programmer on LEO, the firstelectronic office system, pioneered by the Lyons catering company.In the early 1950s, theleading British catering firm, J Lyons & Co, pioneered the world’s first automated officesystem. It was baptised LEO – the Lyons Electronic Office – and was used in stock-taking,food ordering […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/","og_site_name":"LEOPEDIA EDITORIAL SYSTEM","article_published_time":"2023-11-20T18:36:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-20T18:37:06+00:00","author":"LEO editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"LEO editor","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/"},"author":{"name":"LEO editor","@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/#\/schema\/person\/ea535d902aa97c04183bdce5dfbab398"},"headline":"Mary Coombs:","datePublished":"2023-11-20T18:36:54+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-20T18:37:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/"},"wordCount":130,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Media"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/","url":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/","name":"Mary Coombs: - LEOPEDIA EDITORIAL SYSTEM","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-20T18:36:54+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-20T18:37:06+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/mary-coombs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mary Coombs:"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/","name":"LEO Computers Society","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/#organization","name":"LEO Computers Socity","url":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/logo-1.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/logo-1.jpg","width":158,"height":70,"caption":"LEO Computers Socity"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/LEO_(computer)"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/#\/schema\/person\/ea535d902aa97c04183bdce5dfbab398","name":"LEO editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/853b61b2912bf2bff06794431698f0a91708b2a683e55e992a6987cddf79ebaa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/853b61b2912bf2bff06794431698f0a91708b2a683e55e992a6987cddf79ebaa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/853b61b2912bf2bff06794431698f0a91708b2a683e55e992a6987cddf79ebaa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"LEO editor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/author\/vince\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6755,"href":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6754\/revisions\/6755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leo-computers.org.uk\/leopedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}