The London Wasps was derived from Wasps Football Club who were formed in 1867 at the now defunct Eton and Middlesex Tavern in North London, before the advent of the Rugby Football Union as an administrative body. The Club gained its name largely due to the fashion of the Victorian period when clubs tended to adopt the names of insects, birds and animals.

Presiding over the club in its early years was Mr James Pain, who was elected as First President. Mr Pain was still at the President when the Rugby Football Union was formed in January 1871. The Wasps were invited to join the Union and, therefore, were eligible to be Founder Members. They would have been Founder Members had it not been for a disastrous mix-up that led to them not being present at the inauguration ceremony. In true rugby fashion the team turned up at the wrong pub, on the wrong day, at the wrong time and so forfeited their right to be called Founder Members. The Club's first home was in Finchley Road, North London although subsequent years saw grounds being rented in various parts of London. In 1923 Wasps moved to their previous home of Sudbury, eventually buying the ground outright. Although the team currently grace the Adams Park Stadium, High Wycombe, on home match days, the Sudbury clubhouse still exists and Sudbury is still considered the Club's spiritual home by diehard fans.

London Wasps have won at least one of each of the major European competitions or knock-out tournaments in the past decade. The team compete in the English club competition, the Aviva Premiership, the Anglo-Welsh competition the LV= Cup and the European knock-out competition, the Amlin Challenge Cup.

They won the Heineken Cup in 2003-04 and 2006-07, the Anglo-Welsh Cup in 2006 and the Aviva Premiership in 1990, 1997, 2003–2005 and 2008.