Jnc: /* External links */ +ICL Anthologies

2026-09-26T23:49:35Z

External links: +ICL Anthologies

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	* [https://www.trevorwright.com/GEC/Roots/roots.html The Roots of GEC 1670-1999] - a large chart covering the complex events above		* [https://www.trevorwright.com/GEC/Roots/roots.html The Roots of GEC 1670-1999] - a large chart covering the complex events above
			* [https://www.ancientgeek.org.uk/ICL/An_ICL_Anthology.pdf An ICL Anthology] - contains stories from many early British computer manufacturers
			* [https://www.ancientgeek.org.uk/ICL/Another_ICL_Anthology.pdf Another ICL Anthology] - similar

	[[Category: British Computer Manufacturers]]		[[Category: British Computer Manufacturers]]

Jnc: Add Ferranti sale to ICT; fix date of EMI sale

2026-09-26T23:14:36Z

Add Ferranti sale to ICT; fix date of EMI sale

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	\|-		\|-
	\| 1959 \|\| Merger \|\| [[British Tabulating Machine Company\|BTM]], [[Powers-Samas]] \|\| [[International Computers and Tabulators]] (ICT)		\| 1959 \|\| Merger \|\| [[British Tabulating Machine Company\|BTM]], [[Powers-Samas]] \|\| [[International Computers and Tabulators]] (ICT)
			\|-
			\| 1962 \|\| Sale \|\| [[EMI Electronics]], ICT \|\| ICT
			\|-
			\| 1963 \|\| Sale \|\| [[Ferranti]] (commercial data processing element), ICT \|\| ICT
	\|-		\|-
	\| 1963 \|\| Merger \|\| [[Leo Computers]], [[English Electric Computers]] (EE) \|\| EE		\| 1963 \|\| Merger \|\| [[Leo Computers]], [[English Electric Computers]] (EE) \|\| EE
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	\|-		\|-
	\| 1967 \|\| Merger \|\| [[Elliott Brothers\|Elliott-Automation]] (commercial data processing element), EE \|\| EE		\| 1967 \|\| Merger \|\| [[Elliott Brothers\|Elliott-Automation]] (commercial data processing element), EE \|\| EE
	\|-
	~~\| 1968 \|\| Merger \|\| [[EMI Electronics]], ICT \|\| ICT~~
	\|-		\|-
	\| 1968 \|\| Merger \|\| EE (commercial data processing element), ICT, \|\| [[International Computers Limited]] (ICL)		\| 1968 \|\| Merger \|\| EE (commercial data processing element), ICT, \|\| [[International Computers Limited]] (ICL)

Jnc: An overview of some complex events

2026-09-26T19:42:13Z

An overview of some complex events

New page

'''Early British computer manufacturers''' were started shortly after the concept of the [[electronic]] [[computer]] was first devised (in the late 1940's), and there were a considerable number of them for a period of about two decades, while the UK struggled to maintain a place in the then-new world-wide computer industry.

It was not surprising that quite a few organizations became involved in commercially producing computers, very early on in the UK, in light of the UK's very influential experimental work in early stored-[[program]] computers - including the [[Manchester Baby]] (1948), the Cambridge [[EDSAC]] (1947-49), the [[Automatic Computing Engine|ACE]] (1945-50) and [[Pilot ACE]] (1949-50), and the [[Manchester Mark I]] (1948-49).

Initial products included the [[Ferranti Mark 1]], the [[DEUCE]], and the [[LEO]] (the first computer built for business work anywhere). Soon, a veritable flock of British companies were getting into the computer business, including:

* [[Associated Electrical Industries]]
* [[Elliott Brothers]]
* [[EMI Electronics]]
* [[English Electric Computers]]
* [[Ferranti]]
* [[General Electric Company]]
** [[GEC Computers]]
* [[Leo Computers]]
* [[International Computers and Tabulators]]
* [[Plessey]]

The British government eventually realized that although the computer business was relatively easy to get into - leading to the long list above - continued success, as the field evolved, would not be possible for a smaller firm. So they, and commercial necessity, soon caused a complex sequence of consolidations (in some cases, the companies involved had a wider range of products than just computers, and it was consideration of those aspects that were the primary cause of a particular consolidation):

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Date !! Type !! Involving !! Consequence
|-
| 1959 || Merger || [[British Tabulating Machine Company|BTM]], [[Powers-Samas]] || [[International Computers and Tabulators]] (ICT)
|-
| 1963 || Merger || [[Leo Computers]], [[English Electric Computers]] (EE) || EE
|-
| 1967 || Purchase || [[Associated Electrical Industries]], [[General Electric Company]] (GEC) || GEC
|-
| 1967 || Merger || [[Elliott Brothers|Elliott-Automation]] (commercial data processing element), EE || EE
|-
| 1968 || Merger || [[EMI Electronics]], ICT || ICT
|-
| 1968 || Merger || EE (commercial data processing element), ICT, || [[International Computers Limited]] (ICL)
|-
| 1969 || Merger || [[real-time]] units of EE, GEC, AEI, [[Marconi]] and Elliott-Automation || Marconi Elliott Computer Systems Limited (re-named [[GEC Computers]] in 1971)
|}

{''Note: Sources differ about the exact sequence and detail of this complex process; complicated by the fact that often units of companies were merged, not the whole company: an example is that EE's computer elements were merged with ICT, before the rest of EE merged with GEC in 1968. The above table is the result of a careful examination of descriptions most directly based on contemporary original sources, but may still contain errors. Cave haquur!''}

At the end of all this, only one company was left selling large computers for business environments - ICL. It soldiered on for a while, until it was finally sold to Fujitsu in 1998 - ironically, just as the rise of the [[microcomputer]] created the conditions for the rise of another group of British computer manufacturers.

==Further reading==

* John Hendry, ''Innovating for Failure: Government Policy and the Early British Computer Industry'', MIT Press, Cambridge, 1990 - based on extensive archival research, but hard to find
* Robert Jones, Oliver Mariott, ''Anatomy of a Merger: A History of G.E.C., A.E.I. and English Electric'', Jonathan Cape, London, 1970 - mostly about the merger of the non-computer elements of the businesses
* Simon H. Lavington, ''[https://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/EarlyBritish.html Early British Computers: The Story of Vintage Computers and the People Who Built Them]'', Manchester University, Manchester, Digital Press, Bedford, 1980 - contains some coverage of the events above
* Simon H. Lavington, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Dhk9wHXfQMkC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Moving Targets: Elliott-Automation and the Dawn of the Computer Age in Britain, 1947–67''], Springer, New York, 2011
* Martin Campbell-Kelly, ''ICL: A Business and Technical History'', Clarendon, Oxford, 1989

==External links==

* [https://www.trevorwright.com/GEC/Roots/roots.html The Roots of GEC 1670-1999] - a large chart covering the complex events above

[[Category: British Computer Manufacturers]]

Early British computer manufacturers - Revision history

Jnc: /* External links */ +ICL Anthologies

Jnc: Add Ferranti sale to ICT; fix date of EMI sale

Jnc: An overview of some complex events