The story of Whatman is really the pursuit of excellence... a consistent theme which runs throughout their history. It all began in 1740 with a small, country-based English mill making fine, handcrafted paper. Since then, the company has evolved into an international separations technology business with offices and locations around the globe.

From the beginning, the motivating force has always been to make and market the very best products, and to sustain long term relationships with their customers based on service, technology and mutual trust.

Many stories end with a wedding. The Whatman story begins with one. On August 7th, 1740, in the parish church of All Saints at Maidstone, Kent, the marriage took place between James Whatman, a leather tanner, and Ann Harris, a widow who had inherited her first husband's newly built paper mill. It was a match that was meant to be. The Whatman and Harris families had known each other for several years, and James Whatman had been a trusted friend of the late Richard Harris, and was a witness to the will which left Turkey Mill to Ann.

The newlyweds set about making their paper mill the finest in the land. At that time, the best quality writing and drawing papers came from abroad, particularly from France and Holland, but it was a commercial tradition that James Whatman determined to break.

He assembled a highly skilled workforce of craftsmen for all stages of the paper making process, even the most laborious but nevertheless crucial task of selecting and grading rags. By 1753 his 'laid' papers, made on a simple mesh of wires, had an excellent reputation in Britain, and were even being exported to America. Three years later, James Whatman was to demonstrate the innovative and technical flair which was to typify the enterprise over succeeding generations by introducing 'wove' paper, where a different configuration of wires in the mould resulted in a smoother, finer sheet. Whatman wove paper set the standard for superior quality drawing, writing and printing paper, and it was 30 years before other paper makers began selling similar products.

Whatman No. 1 filter paper was a key medium in the pioneering experiments undertaken in 1944 by the research scientists, Consden, Gordon, and Martin. Their work in chromatography, coupled with the parallel work that earned Martin and Synge a Nobel Prize, was a technology breakthrough that enabled hospital pathologists, forensic scientists, and biochemists separate chemical compounds into individual components for analysis. By the end of the Second World War, the company's comprehensive range of analytical whatman filter paper had become brand leaders under the Whatman name. New materials, such as glass and quartz microfibres, were being developed and incorporated into new filters that provided solutions to the ever increasing challenges of science and industry.

By 1968, Whatman filter papers were available in more laboratories the world over than any other brand and Whatman filter products were being used in such diverse areas as coffee pots, hospital sterilizers, environmental pollution monitors, life jackets, pregnancy testing kits, and sample preparation devices for scientific research.

Following the merger, the new company was divided into two divisions based on product technology. The Paper Division had its headquarters in Springfield Mill in the UK and the newly formed Chemical Separations Division was located in Clifton, NJ. The Chemical Separations Division continued to pioneer the development of HPLC Column technology along with related thin layer (TLC) and ion chromatography (IEC). Whatman was recognized as the world leading supplier of these important analytical technologies. In addition, HPLC and ion chromatography were able to be scaled up to allow these techniques to be used on a production level for processing large volumes of material for commercial purposes. In 1983, Whatman Reeve Angel was contracted to install a Process Liquid Chromatography System at the GD Searle Company for the production of a new synthetic sweetener called Aspartame.

Whatman paper and membrane innovations continued to enable scientific advancements at a rapid pace. As the demand grew for filtration and adsorption solutions for the biosciences, Whatman developed specialized membranes and media to allow the sensitive separation and analytical techniques required for biomolecular research.

Recently introduced patented FTA technology is revolutionizing the handling and storage of DNA. With this unique technology, it is now possible to collect, transport, store and purify DNA safely and securely at room temperature, eliminating the need for expensive freezers.

With the new capability provided by FTA technology, researchers and scientists in many different disciplines, in laboratories throughout the world, are discovering the benefits for archiving virtually any type of biological sample for DNA analysis: Researchers are able to store and retrieve their DNA clones with unprecedented ease. Forensic scientists are using FTA technology to collect and store evidence and to build a criminal identification database. Animal breeders and agriculturalists can use FTA to monitor food origins and food safety. Because FTA technology provides a simple solution for obtaining samples from remote locations, it is being used for plant studies and other field operations.

Given his penchant for providing customers with truly innovative solutions, James Whatman would be pleased.

With the dawn of World War One, the Balston company was presented with a unique opportunity. They were approached by an anxious government which needed filter papers, particularly for steel and armament production, as previous supplies had come from Germany. It was to be an event which changed the direction of the business, and from that time production increasingly switched from handmade fine papers to scientific filters.

The Whatman company goes back more than 260 years. And during those years, there can be few companies anywhere in the world that can lay claim to such a distinguished list of clients as Whatman.

Throughout history, heads of state and world leaders have shown a particular penchant for Whatman paper. Napoleon sat for five hours on the bleak island of St. Helena writing his long and detailed will on Whatman paper only three weeks before his death in 1821. George Washington signed many state documents on Whatman paper. Queen Victoria chose Whatman paper for her personal correspondence.

Today, Whatman products have gained universal acceptance among the major scientific and industrial concerns of the developed world, from Japan to the United States, the UK to southeast Asia.

A remarkable testimony to Whatman quality -- achieved through the pursuit of excellence.