Mary Coombs

Mary Coombs (born 1929) was the first womam to work on the LEO computers.[1] Her father, William Blood, believed in women's education and her sister worked in microbiology and bacteriology. Unlike her sister, and unlike others in computing, she did not have a background in math or science.[2] The National Museum of Computing mentions her.[3]

Education

In her early years, Coombs attended Putney High School and St Paul's Girls' School. She went on to earn a BA Honours degree in French, with History, from Queen Mary University of London. [4]

Work at J. Lyons and Co.

After obtaining her degree, Coombs began worked at J. Lyons and Co. in 1951 as a temporary clerical worker—a job she reluctantly accepted while searching for a better alternative. Coombs' mathematical prowess soon allowed her to transfer from the Ice Cream Sales department to the Statistical Office, where she had heard that the division working on the LEO computers had been looking to hire additional programmers.[5]

The selection process, devised by Raymond Thompson, was conducted as a "computer appreciation course", which consisted of a grueling week of daytime lectures and evening written assignments designed to test the candidates' knowledge of computers.[5]

Coombs' performance in the computer appreciation course had been stellar, and as a result, she was one of just two candidates to be offered a job in the computer division, along with Frank Land. According to Coombs, she was one of a handful of women to take the computer appreciation course, however she was the only one to be offered a job as a result.[5]

Once Coombs began officially working with LEO in 1952, she was taught how to program by John Grover, one of the first LEO programmers. Initially, she was the only woman on the team and worked along side Leo Fantl, John Grover, and Derrick Hemy working on using LEO to automatically calculate payroll for employees at J. Lyons and Co. The team later went on to do payroll for Ford Motor Company using LEO.[6]

Coombs continued to work for J. Lyons and Co as the LEO II and LEO III were built. She spent most of her time as a supervisor, checking for logical and syntactical errors in the programs that other people wrote. She was also in charge of rewriting programs from LEO II to work with LEO III, since LEO III used a different programming language.[6]

J. Lyons and Co. provided a good work environment for Coombs. The company had a number of sports clubs that Coombs was involved in and even an Amateur Dramatic Society.[6] However, the company provided very low pay, which was a hardship to her because she financially supported her mother.[7]

After J. Lyons and Co.

Coombs was transferred to English Electric Leo Computers, a company jointly created by J. Lyons and Co. and English Electric. Later she was transferred to International Computers Limited (ICL) when the bought out English Electric Leo Computers. There, in 1964, because of family commitments she moved from working full time to part time. She continued to work work in the computing business mainly edited manuals. She briefly taught a computer programming course at Princess Marina Centre at Seer Green for handicapped residents.[4]

In 1969, when she realized that she would not be able to go back working full time, Coombs left the LEO team and attempted to join Freelance Programmers, a company company started by Dame Stephanie Shirley , but could not get a position due to cutbacks.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Mary Coombs". The British Library.
  2. ↑ "Mary Coombs - Diversity in HPC".
  3. ↑ "Museum celebrates women in computing". BBC News.
  4. 1 2 3 Bird, Peter J. LEO: the First Business Computer. Wokingham: Hasler Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-9521651-0-4.
  5. 1 2 3 Ferry, Georgina (2004). A Computer Called LEO: Lyons Tea Shops and the world's first office computer. Harper Perennial. p. 106. ISBN 1 84115 1866.
  6. 1 2 3 "National Life Stories, an Oral History of British Science: Mary Coombs" (PDF). British Library Sounds. Oral History at the British Library. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  7. ↑ Hicks, Marie (2017). Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost its Edge in Computing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. p. 87. ISBN 9780262035545.


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