The original company had been founded by George Courtauld and his cousin Peter Taylor in 1794 and traded as George Courtauld & Co as a silk, crepe and textile business located at Pebmarsh in North Essex. However in 1816 the company found itself in financial difficulties and George’s son Samuel took over the business, after this it became known as Courtauld & Taylor. The business continued to prosper and as a result further mills were built.

Not wishing to remain reliant on natural silk Courtaulds purchased Patents for the processing and manufacturing of Viscose an artificial silk in 1904 and helped to further transform the fortunes of the company. Courtaulds Limited was incorporated on the 3rd April 1913 and had taken over Samuel Courtauld & Co Ltd as a going concern together with the premises, freehold and leasehold or of any other tenure.

The company re-registered as a public company on the 1st March 1982 and became known as Courtaulds plc. In 1998 Akzo Nobel agreed to acquire the entire share capital of Courtaulds plc which was approximately valued at £1,830 million. The company changed its name to Akzo Nobel UK Ltd on the 2nd October 1998 and was re-registered as a private company on the 15th December 1998.