The company was founded in 1812 by William Westley Richards, who was responsible for the early innovation of many rifles used in wars featuring the British Army during the 1800s.

Currently the company has two listed directors, Alexander Clode and Sheikh Sultan Bin Jassim Al Thani of Qatar.

Famous gun owners have included Ernest Hemingway, Maharaja of Alwar and actor Stewart Granger.

Today, Westley Richards is one of the oldest surviving traditional gun and rifle makers in England.

Early in the company's history, Richards coined the motto, "to be the maker of as good a gun as can be made", which is still used to this day.

The two most significant was the patent relating to the use of a new waterproof primer for the ignition of percussion guns and also the first flip-up sight, which went on to be used by the British Army.

[8][9] A book about the First Boer War, (J. Lehmann's The First Boer War, 1972), offered this comment: "Employing chiefly the very fine breech-loading Westley Richards - calibre 45; paper cartridge; percussion-cap replaced on the nipple manually - they made it exceedingly dangerous for the British to expose themselves on the skyline".

[10] Following the establishment of the new type of shotgun mechanism, the company's success in manufacturing both military and sporting weapons saw them move to a new base in 1894.

The reason behind the move was said to be down to the large close season for shooting in the United Kingdom, which traditionally runs from January through to August.

[22] George Eastman notably referred to his Westley Richards guns in his book Chronicles of an African Trip, which was published in 1927.

[24] James H. Sutherland, the noted elephant hunter who shot between 1,300 and 1,600 elephants, used a Westley Richards single-trigger Droplock .577 Nitro Express double rifle for most of his hunting, along with a bolt action .318 Westley Richards which he used in open country where the quarry was difficult to approach and long shots were required.

[25][26] Jim Corbett owned a Westley Richards 275 model as mentioned in The Temple Tiger and More Maneaters of Kumaon.

They focused on the hunting and shooting communities, stating that professional shooters and social groups would benefit from another luxury clothing brand in this field.