Handley Page Limited was founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) in 1909 . The company, based at Radlett Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, was noted for its pioneering role in aviation history and for producing heavy bombers and large airliners

Frederick Handley Page first experimented with and built several biplanes and monoplanes at premises in Woolwich, Fambridge and Barking Creek. His company, founded on 17 June 1909, became the first British public company to build aircraft.

In 1912, Handley Page established an aircraft factory at Cricklewood after moving from Barking. Aircraft were built there, and flown from the company's adjacent airfield known as Cricklewood Aerodrome, which was later used by Handley Page Transport. The factory was later sold off to Oswald Stoll and converted into Britain's largest film studios, Cricklewood Studios

During the First World War, Handley Page produced a series of heavy bombers for the Royal Navy to bomb the German Zeppelin yards, with the ultimate intent of bombing Berlin in revenge for the Zeppelin attacks on London. Handley Page had been asked by the Admiralty to produce a "bloody paralyser of an aeroplane". These aircraft included the O/100 of 1915, the O/400 of 1918 and the four-engined V/1500 with the range to reach Berlin. The V/1500 had only just entered operational service as the war ended in 1918.

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In the immediate postwar years, Handley Page modified a number of O/400's to passenger use, which they flew on the London-Paris route as Handley Page Transport. The V/1500 was considered too large to be practical at the time, but a number of design features of the V/1500 were later incorporated into an O/400 airframe to produce their first dedicated passenger design, the W.8. In 1924 Handley Page Transport merged with two other regional airlines to create Imperial Airways, the UK's first national airline service. Handley Page developed several large biplane airliners, including the luxurious Handley Page H.P.42, for use on Imperial routes to Africa and India.

With the Second World War looming, Handley Page turned back to bomber design and produced the HP.52 Hampden.

The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden was a British twin-engine medium bomber of the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was part of the trio of large twin-engine bombers procured for the RAF, joining the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and Vickers Wellington. The newest of the three medium bombers, the Hampden was often referred to by aircrews as the "Flying Suitcase" because of its cramped crew conditions.The Hampden was powered by Bristol Pegasus radial engines but a variant known as the Handley Page Hereford had in-line Napier Daggers.

The Hampden served in the early stages of the Second World War, bearing the brunt of the early bombing war over Europe, taking part in the first night raid on Berlin and the first 1,000-bomber raid on Cologne. When it became obsolescent, after a period of mainly operating at night, it was retired from RAF Bomber Command service in late 1942.

 In response to a 1936 government request for heavier, longer ranged aircraft, Handley Page tendered the HP.56 design powered by twin Rolls-Royce Vultures and this was ordered.  However the Vulture proved so troublesome that  the Air Staff decided that the HP.56 should be fitted with four engines instead. Therefore the HP.56 design was reworked into the four-engined HP.57 Halifax. The Halifax became the second most prolific British heavy bomber of the war after the Avro Lancaster Although in some respects (such as crew survivability) better than the Lancaster, the Halifax suffered in terms of altitude performance and was redeployed toward the end of the war as a heavy transport and glider tug.

The Halifax performed its maiden flight, and it entered service with the RAF on 13 November 1940. It quickly became a major component of Bomber Command, performing routine strategic bombing missions against the Axis Powers, many of which were performed at night. Production of the bomber continued until April 1945. During their service with Bomber Command, Halifaxes flew a total of 82,773 operations and dropped 224,207 tons of bombs, while 1,833 aircraft were lost. The Halifax was also operated in large numbers by other Allied and Commonwealth nations, such as the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Free French Air Force and Polish forces.

. During the post-war years, the Halifax was operated by the Royal Egyptian Air Force, the French Air Force and the Royal Pakistan Air Force. The type also entered commercial service for a number of years, where it was mainly used as a freighter. A dedicated civil transport variant, the Handley Page Halton, was also developed and entered airline service. 41 civil Halifax freighters were used during the Berlin Airlift. In 1961, the last remaining Halifax bombers were retired from operational use.

After the war, the British Government sought tenders for jet bombers to carry the nation's nuclear deterrent. 

The Handley Page Victor was a British jet-powered strategic bomber, which served during the Cold War. It was the third and final V-bomber to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the other two being the Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. The Victor had been developed as part of the United Kingdom’s airborne nuclear deterrent. In 1968, it was retired from the nuclear mission following the discovery of fatigue cracks, which had been exacerbated by the RAF's adoption of a low-altitude flight profile to avoid interception.

A number of Victors were modified for strategic reconnaissance. During the Falklands War, Victor tankers were used in the airborne logistics operation to repeatedly refuel Vulcan bombers on their way to and from the Black Buck raids.

The Victor was the last of the V-bombers to be retired, the final aircraft being removed from service on 15 October 1993. In its refuelling role, it was replaced by the Vickers VC10 and the Lockheed Tristar.

In 1947 Handley Page bought some of the assets of the bankrupt Miles Aircraft company. These assets include existing designs, tools and jigs, most notably for the Miles M.52 supersonic research aircraft, and the Miles site at Woodley, near Reading. The most significant of the inherited designs was the Herald airliner. The Herald was an extensive re-development of the original concept of the Marathon, notable for its high mounted wing. The HP Reading division succeeded in producing a modern design with excellent flight and performance characteristics. However, the company made a serious misjudgement Handley Page preferred a four-engined design, which led to the new 870 hp  Alvis Leonides Major 14-cylinder radial engine, driving three-bladed propellers being chosen for the HPR.3. At almost the same time Fokker made the opposite choice for the F27 Friendship with two Rolls-Royce Darts.At first, it seemed that Handley Page had made the right choice extensive work by the sales team had produced  29 orders by the time the first prototype made its maiden flight  three months ahead of the first flight of the Friendship. Before the second prototype had been completed, Handley Page was faced with the fact that it had no orders for the Herald, and that the market had changed and wanted turboprops.The first prototype was converted to Dart Herald standard, making its maiden flight on 11 March 1958

Unlike other large British aircraft manufacturers, Handley Page resisted the government's pressure to merge into larger entities. By the late 1960s, the British aviation industry was dominated by just two combines; Hawker Siddeley and the British Aircraft Corporation.

Unable to compete for government orders or with large commercial aircraft, Handley Page produced its final notable Handley Page design; the Jetstream.