1910 John Baptiste Reiner
Vere Street London
1950s Howard Rayner
The first Rayner Company was founded in 1910, when British optician Mr John Baptiste Reiner and American-born Mr Charles Davis Keeler opened their first optician’s shop at No 9, Vere Street, London, England. They registered their company as Reiner & Keeler Ltd on the 28th September 1910. Before forming the company, J.B. Reiner had completed an apprenticeship in ‘the art of an optician and scientific instrument maker’ in 1891 and had gone on to work for E.B. Meyrowitz Ltd, a branch of a well known American optical company.
In 1915, during the First World War, the company name was changed to Rayner & Keeler Ltd. This was almost certainly a commercial decision of the time as J.B. Reiner retained his name all his life. The two founding directors separated in 1917 when C.D. Keeler resigned and severed all his interests with the Company. (Mr Keeler went on to open his first practice at 47, Wigmore Street, London W1 that year and this is the origin of the famous Keeler Ophthalmic Instrument Company now based in Windsor in Berkshire.)
J. B. Reiner retained the Vere Street shop and the company name Rayner & Keeler Ltd, which remains the parent company name of Rayner Intraocular Lenses Limited.
In 2010 Rayner celebrates 100 years of dedication and service to the ophthalmic profession worldwide and optical manufacture and retail in the United Kingdom.
