Meggitt's own official history claims that the company's roots can be traced through to 1850 via the scientific instrumentation business Negretti and Zambra, which had, amongst other innovations, invented the world's first altimeter for the hot air balloon.

[6] During 1947, a new business was founded under the trading name Willson Lathes; it operated as a machine tool manufacturer based in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

[6] The new management team soon embarked on a series of acquisitions, aimed at increasing the business' geographical diversity to become an international engineering company; it focused on speciality sectors within fields such as aerospace, controls, electronics and energy.

[9] Following the appointment of Michael Stacey as the CEO of Meggitt Holdings in 1990,[10] the company was reorganised to focus its efforts around three core markets: aerospace, defence systems and electronics.

[13] That same year Spanish aviation company CASA appointed it to supply the air ducting system for its new C-295 utility transport aircraft.

In 2002, it arranged to acquire Lodge (Brothers), a British manufacturer of speed and temperature sensors for aero engines, from Smiths Aerospace.

[17] During the following year, Meggitt bought Western Design, which manufactured automated ammunition-handling apparatus and environmental control systems.

[6] The company launched several products throughout the decade, such as the Meggitt Avionics new Generation Integrated Cockpit (MAGIC) for business aircraft,[23][24] bleed air leak detection (BALD) system,[25] and its Electro-Thermal-based Ice Protection (ETIP) system, often choosing to promote its latest entries at the biennial Farnborough Air Show.

[27] Meggitt's vibration monitoring system was also integrated into multiple platforms, including the CFM International CFM56, General Electric GEnx, Rolls-Royce Trent and PowerJet SaM146 turbofan engines, amongst others.