The company's origins date back to 1733, when James Whatman set up a papermill in Maidstone, Kent. William Balston was apprenticed to Whatman in the 1780s, and later founded Springfield Mill in 1806. William and Richard Balston took over the running of the mill in 1861.

In 1974 the company merged with Angel Reeve International to form Whatman Angel Reeve, this was later restructured and renamed Whatman PLC