Gooch & Housego PLC was founded by Archie Gooch and Leslie Housego in 1948.
During World War II they were both evacuated to Somerset, where they were employed by Cable Standard Telephones London at Dowlish Ford on the outskirts of the market town of Ilminster.
After the war, they decided to stay in Ilminster to form what has become an integral (and internationally-renowned) member of the local community. Their core skills at this time focused on processing glass and crystalline materials, thus establishing the cornerstone of the current operations at Ilminster where Acousto-optics and Crystal Optics are now manufactured for global markets.
Traditionally a craft-based optical engineering company rich in practical optical manufacturing skills, Gooch & Housego has undergone a transformation over the last twenty years to become a global high-technology optoelectronics business.
Sound investment in Research and Development drove this expansion, with much of it carried out as part of collaborative projects with key academic and industrial partners and with the benefit of DTI support.
Gooch & Housego has now become a publicly quoted international group of companies serving a worldwide market.