Leon Bagrit
From Graces Guide
Leon Bagrit - the father of British automation
- Born 13 March 1902, Belgium[1].
- 1914 Moved to U.K. with his family at the start of WW1
- Trained at University College, London
- Started work with Avery's, makers of weighing machines
- 1927 General Manager, Herbert and Sons, makers of weighing machines
- 1935 Set up B and P Swift mainly to exploit his own patented inventions
- 1946 B and P Swift taken over by Elliott Bros; Bagrit became joint managing director, and later managing director
- Bagrit and his associates saw the opportunity to develop automatic control systems for use in atomic power, aerospace, ballistic missiles and other applications. This provided much new business development for Elliott Bros.
- 1957 Elliott Automation established; Bagrit became deputy chairman and managing director. Decentralized company. Successfully led the expansion of Elliotts to 15 groups in the early 1960s with 16000 staff.
- 1962 Knighted
- 1963 Chairman of Elliott Automation
- 1973 Retired from Elliotts after a career of technical and scientific success, a widely read man with a keen interest in music and the visual arts, especially sculpture<ref>The Times 23 November 1979<ref>.
- Died 22 April 1979<ref>The Times 23 November 1979<ref>
- ↑ The Times 23 November 1979