The optical manager of that company, H. Dennis Taylor (no relation), devised the Cooke triplet lens in the 1890s.
Cooke of York was not interested in the manufacture of camera lenses, and licensed this design and others to TTH.
Dave Stevens was then Managing Director of the Leicester-based facility and remained so until 2008 when Robert Howard replaced him as Chief Executive Officer.
In 2020 Cooke announced the appointment of Tim Pugh as Chief Executive Officer and Kees van Oostrum as Non-Executive Chairman.
In 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave the company an award of merit, saying it "helped define the look of motion pictures over the last century," with innovations over the years that have included zoom lenses for movie cameras and lenses that did not require bright lights.