History

During World War II, Archie Gooch and Leslie Housego, the founders of Gooch & Housego PLC, were evacuated to the sleepy market town of Ilminster in Somerset. They were both employed by Cable Standard Telephones London, reportedly working at Dowlish Ford on the outskirts of Ilminster. After the war, they decided to stay in Ilminster and formed in 1948 what has become an international member of the local community. The core skills at the time were centred around processing glass and crystalline materials. These skills are still very much at the cornerstone of the current operations at Ilminster with global sales of acousto-optics and crystal optics.

Traditionally a craft-based optical engineering company rich in practical optical manufacturing skills, Gooch & Housego has undergone a transformation over the last twenty years into a high-technology optoelectronics business through investment in research and development. Much of the Research & Development was carried out as part of collaborative projects with key academic and industrial partner and with the benefit of DTI support. 

Gooch & Housego has now become a publicly quoted international group of companies serving a worldwide market.