Numatic International Limited[6] is a British manufacturer primarily producing domestic, commercial and industrial cleaning and maintenance equipment distributed worldwide.

[8][9] The company was founded on 9 September 1963,[6] and as of 2024[update] is owned solely by Chairman and Founder Chris Duncan, who created the compact shape for the cleaner.

[12] One evening during a trade show in the mid-1970s, Duncan and a salesman, bored, dressed up one of their current commercial cleaners with ribbon, a union flag badge, and something like a hat, then chalked a crude smile under the hose connector.

The next day, visitors noticed it and laughed; Duncan then decided to ask his advertising people to design a proper face; they nicknamed the result "Henry".

Henry also has many variations of the name that is on the vacuum, such as Hetty (which is pink, has long eyelashes, and leans towards a female target market), Harry (which is green, was originally called Henry Hound, and leans towards pet owners), James (which was originally yellow, but its colour was changed to blue in 2019,[13] and has a caddy top), and many others.