LEO Computers Superseded
LEO Computers
KindCompany
Founded1954
Defunct1964
StatusSuperseded
FoundersJ. Lyons & Co.
FieldEarly computers
The tea-shop company's computer subsidiary — sold the LEO business machines its parent had invented. Merged into English Electric Leo Marconi in 1964.
19251950197520002025
Created LEO I
J. Lyons & Co. — the British catering giant behind the Corner Houses — ran its clerical operations so efficiently that management sent a team to Princeton in 1947 to study ENIAC. They built LEO (Lyons Electronic Office) from the EDSAC design and ran the world's first business application (bakery valuations) in November 1951.
Lyons formed LEO Computers Ltd in 1954 to sell the machines; merged into English Electric Leo Marconi in 1964, thence into ICL.