The company was formed by Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna in 1792 as a news vendor in London.

It remained under the ownership of the Smith family for many years and saw large-scale expansion during the 1970s as the company began to diversify into other markets.

Following a rejected private equity takeover in 2004, the company began to focus on its core retail business.

In 1792, Henry Walton Smith and his wife Anna established the business as a news vendor in Little Grosvenor Street, London.

[11][12] The younger W. H. Smith used the success of the firm as a springboard into politics, becoming a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1868[9] and serving as a minister in several Conservative governments.

[9] After the death of W. H. Smith the younger in 1891,[13] his widow was created Viscountess Hambleden in her own right;[9] their son inherited the business from his father and the viscountcy from his mother.

[17] For several years, the company's retail arm had difficulties competing with specialist book and music chains on one side and large supermarkets on the other.

[28][29][30] In October 2014, WHSmith announced as part of its preliminary statement that it was planning on extending its greetings card offering by launching the low-price brand Cardmarket on a trial basis.

This was in addition to the announcement of the closure for at least six WHSmith stores which were deemed economically unviable following a strategic business review.

InMotion expanded to operate stores within UK airports including Heathrow, Manchester and Birmingham, as well as overseas in Spain and Australia.

[36] In August 2020, WHSmith launched a new flagship store in Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport, in collaboration with Well, which features an in-house pharmacy.

The changed stores, which included those in York, Canterbury and Preston, dropped the word "Smith" in favour of "WHS".

[41] In January 2025, WHSmith was reported to be in talks to sell its high street business, with around 500 stores and the partnership with Toys "R" Us.

The more profitable travel retail business (which has shops in railway stations, airports, ports, hospitals and on motorways) would be unaffected by this.

[8] By late 1984, the company had bought a 15% stake in Screensport and from January 1986, took over the operations and management when ABC and R Kennedy pulled out.

[47] WHSmith also operate a number of shops within hospitals, following its acquisition of Yorkshire-based newsagent chain United News in March 2008.

[48] In addition to its existing joint ventures and franchise shops, the company trialled the smaller format, convenience-based WHSmith Local concept during 2013.

[49] Targeted at independent newsagents and post office business owners,[50] a total of 40 such stores were trading and a further 40 planned by the time the 2015 annual report had been published.

[63][19] WHSmith restarted its Australian operations in March 2011 following the collapse of Angus & Robertson/Borders who held the naming rights in Australia.

The chain promised when winning this latter contract to hire a full-time Irish book buyer; however, the appointment of an Australian, based in London and not in Dublin, drew adverse criticism.

Eason's, currently at T1 in Dublin, asked the airport operator to tender for a new contract one year earlier as the retailer blamed a fall in sales on the success of Terminal 2 at Dublin, which carried the majority of long haul traffic and long haul passengers tend to spend more on books.

[85] In May 2018, WHSmith apologised after it was revealed that it had made more than £700 by selling single tubes of toothpaste for £7.99 through its branch in Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield.