Founded by Samuel Edgar Saunders in the 1870s, S.E. Saunders Ltd initially started as a boat-building business at Goring-on-Thames

1911:  The company moved to Cowes on the Isle of Wight and also started construction of flying boats

1912: design and build of, possibly, the first amphibious flying boat in partnership with T.O.M. Sopwith, and piloted by Harry Hawker. 

1917: Company patents an aircraft frame design.

1918: Company patents a radiator for aircraft engines.

1929: Company acquired by Alliott Verdon-Roe and John Lord; name changed to Saunders-Roe (also known as SARO)

1929: Founded by Alliot Verdon Roe (Avro) and John Lord after acquiring S.E. Saunders boat-builders

January 1931: Whitehall Securities Corporation Limited, already a large shareholder in Spartan Aircraft Ltd of Southampton, acquire a substantial holding in Saunders Roe and effectively merge Spartan into Saunders-Roe. 

1951: Saunders-Roe take over the interests of the Cierva Autogiro Company based at Eastleigh, including the Skeeter helicopter project.

1959: Designed by Christopher Cockerell and built by Saunders-Roe on the Isle of Wight under the auspices of the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) the first practical hovercraft, the Saunders-Roe SR-N1, is demonstrated.

1964: company acquired by Westland.

1964: All Westland hovercraft businesses were merged with Vickers Supermarine to form the British Hovercraft Corporation. This in turn was taken over by Westland and renamed Westland Aerospace in 1985, and hovercraft production ceased.