Wilfred Taylor

Edward Wilfred Taylor (29 April 1891 – 1 November 1980) was a British manufacturer of optical instruments.

Biography Taylor was born on 29 April 1891 at 20 Bootham, York, to parents Charlotte Fernandes Taylor and Harold Dennis Taylor (a designer of optical instruments for Thomas Cooke & Sons). He attended a preparatory school at Orelton, Scarborough, before, at age 14, attending Oundle School. He left school in 1908 to take up an apprenticeship at Thomas Cooke & Sons in York.

In 1912 he travelled to the US aboard to demonstrate rangefinder equipment to the US government.

At the outbreak of the First World War, he enlisted in the 21st Battalion Royal Fusiliers and subsequently commissioned to the Sherwood Foresters as a range finding officer. Taylor subsequently served in the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) during the Battle of the Somme, where he was wounded. After recovery he was transferred to the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow and served aboard the . In 1917 he was seconded to the Royal Navy as a lieutenant and attached to HMS President (shore establishment), where he was involved in the equipping of the naval fleet with new searchlights. He was demobilised in April 1919. Taylor was awarded a CBE in 1946. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society on 20 March 1952, and was also a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society.

Select publications 1921–22. "The effect of changes of surface curvature at the focus of an astronomical object glass", Transactions of the Optical Society 23, 241. 1930. "The Tavistock transit theodolite", Transactions of the Optical Society 32, 45. 1940. "The effects of eccentricity and misplaced indices of divided circles", Empire Survey Review 5, 466. 1950. "The application of phase contrast to the ultra-violet microscope", Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 137, 322. 1955. Theodolite design and construction. York: Cooke, Troughton & Simms Lt.