The Orsett Show began life as "The Orsett Agricultural Association and Labourers' Friend Society" in 1841, and started very simply as a ploughing match. When the squire of the village Mr R. B. Wingfield died in 1880, the show died with him.

In 1895, the new squire Captain T. C. Douglas Whitmore and his son Francis revived the Orsett Show and started the "Orsett and District Cottage Garden and Agricultural Society". The Show was held in the park at Orsett Hall and continued to prosper until the outbreak of the First World War.

The show was restarted on the 13th September 1919, when classes for vegetables and horses in the Grand Ring were introduced.

The 1939 Show was due to take place on Wednesday September 3rd, but was once again disrupted by war, which had been declared three days earlier.

On Wednesday 4th September 1946 the Show once again returned, with Horse and Pig sections in addition to the Horticultural Show. 1947 saw the introduction of an Agricultural section, the return of Cattle Classes and a record attendance of 7,000. In 1949 the Show changed to a Saturday, and introduced a Fur and Feather section.

In 1968 the Orsett Estate was sold and Sir John Whitmore left Orsett Hall, resigning the presidency which had been in the family since 1895. In the following years, the land at Orsett Hall was sold and new site in Rectory Road Orsett was acquired by Orsett Show Ground Limited to provide the Show with a permanent Show Ground and its regular date of 'The First Saturday In September'.