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In the early 1990's I was idly listening to the chit-chat after a local history meeting when the curator of Forge Mill Museum in Redditch said, 'I'll tell you where Royal Enfield began' - and he described my house. I rushed off to the archives and found that although Royal Enfield used my house and the little mill to which am attached for many years, they didn't actually began here but in identical premises at the other end of the road which have now been demolished. A friend said that Royal Enfield would be interested in my research, so thinking they were a little group of about 20 people I sent it to them. It turned out that they have about 2,000 members! They asked me if I could interview ex-employees as they knew all about the history of the motor bikes but very little about the people who worked there. I interviewed 80 ex-employees and a publishing company, Amulree, in the Isle of Man turned it into a book.
Robert Walker Smith continued to run the company, later aided by his son, Major Smith. They were particularly famous for their motor bikes. The 350 'Bullet' was tough with fairly simple mechanics. For many years it was the only motor bike India would allow to be imported. Major Smith died in the early 1960's and the company seemd to go downhill after that and closed piece by piece.