WThe Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO) is the main professional association for opticians in the UK.
WJames Ayscough ,(died 1759) was an English optician and designer and maker of scientific instruments. He was apprenticed to an optician named James Mann from 1743 to 1747. James Ayscough became known for his microscopes. His shop was in London between 1740 and 1759. Around the year 1752, James Ayscough introduced spectacles with double-hinged side pieces. Although he made clear lenses, he recommended lenses tinted blue or green to treat some vision problems. These spectacles with tinted lenses are believed to be the precursors to sunglasses.
WJohn Browning was an English inventor and manufacturer of precision scientific instruments in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He hailed from a long line of English instrument makers and transformed the family business from one dealing in nautical instruments to one specialising in scientific instruments. Browning was particularly well known for his advances in the fields of spectroscopy, astronomy, and optometry.
WJohn Cuff was an important English scientific instrument maker, particularly of microscopes.
WVictoria Lidiard (1889-1992) was a British social activist, optician and Christian author, reputed to be the longest surviving suffragette in the UK.
WMarratt & Ellis Opticians was a company established in 1828 in London, England. Initially known as J S Marratt, then Marratt and Short, this optician's was situated at 63 King William Street, the northern end of London Bridge where King William Street meets Gracechurch Street. Marratt and Ellis was at one time a large business engaged in sight testing, dispensing spectacles, making artificial eyes and a supplier of optical and scientific instruments. There are many examples of opera glasses, thermometers, barometers and meteorological instruments etc. which are engraved with the company name.
WEdward Nairne was English optician and scientific instrument maker.
WIsmail Patel is a British optician, and founder of Friends of Al-Aqsa, in Leicester, about 1995.