The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers announces the death of much-loved and respected Past Master Huntly Taylor FBDO, on 17 May 2025.
Huntly Taylor was a major influence in optics over many years. He began by qualifying as a Dispensing Optician with Rayners in 1971. Within a year he was managing three of their practices across London. In 1993 he bought his own practice, and owned and ran Rayner + Taylor in Brighton very successfully until his retirement.
Huntly was a founder director of the Eyecare Information Service (now the Eyecare Trust), which still leads the National Eye Health Week campaign every September. A passionate and committed dispensing optician, he served on the Council of the Association of British Dispensing Opticians for
ten years and between 2011 and 2016 was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of ABDO College at Godmersham in Kent. He remained connected with ABDO and ABDO College, most recently serving as a contributor to its Awards Committee.
Huntly joined WCSM as a Freeman in 1994 and a progressed through its Education Committee and onto the Court, becoming Master Spectacle Maker in October 2019. In this regard, Huntly will always be remembered as our ‘COVID Master’, serving two consecutive terms and leading the Company throughout the disruptive lockdowns. Huntly took this in his stride, working to ensure the Company thrived, and reminding the members of the value of the Company for its networking and caring aspects, whether in real life or online. During his two years as Master, although Huntly could not enjoy all the activities normally expected of a Master, he represented the Company as fully as possible and consistently pursued the message of the importance of eye health and the need for professional guidance on all matters relating to vision. No-one was happier than Huntly when restrictions were eased and the City returned to life in the summer of 2021. His smile was so wide on the way into a service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral that a photo of him was published in “The Times” the next morning, capturing the joy of people being back together.
Huntly loved sport, and will be remembered for his love of cricket, golf, football and in recent years, horseracing, his Masters weekend was actually held in the hallowed Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket. A lifelong fan of Brighton and Hove Albion, he is now flying with his beloved Seagulls. Huntly is survived by his daughter, Louise, and Liveryman Gaynor Foulkes-Taylor, whom he married in 2014.
