Orton, Ethel

Nationality:
British

Ethel Orton worked as a comptometer operator at various companies in Manchester. Her father bought her a comptometer, the first commercially successful key driven mechanical calculator, for £5.00 from a shop on Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester. She attended a comptometer training school run by Felt & Tarrant on Quay Street, Manchester on Saturdays at the age of 13.

On leaving school she started work as Comptometer Operator No 3 at Thomas Manning & Sons, jute manufacturers on Canal Street, Manchester. She was promoted to Comptometer Operator No 2 and later became the managing director's secretary. Orton used an electric comptometer which was quicker to operate than the mechanical one.

After 14 years at Thomas Manning & Sons, Orton went to work for several other small companies, working on accounts and databases, with the introduction of computers. She was eventually made redundant after which she went to work for the Citizens Advice Bureau.