Made Like A Gun

In 1893, founders Bob Walker Smith and Albert Eadie started using the now legendary slogan that Royal Enfield is synonymous with — Made Like A Gun. This slogan was often teamed with a visual representation of a field artillery piece or canon. Pushing the envelope, Royal Enfield actually acquired a Maxim machine gun for promotional purposes until it was seized in Ireland being mistaken for an actual weapon!

Royal Enfield began with a dream to manufacture and sell bicycles.

In November 1891, Bob Walker Smith and Albert Eadie, two young entrepreneurs from the industrial heartland of the British West Midlands, bought George Townsend & Co of Hunt End, Redditch.

Townsend’s was a well-respected needle manufacturer of almost 50 years standing and had recently begun to produce safety bicycles.

The following year, the two men called their new venture the Eadie Manufacturing Co. Ltd, with Albert Eadie as Managing Director and Bob Walker Smith combining the roles of Works Manager with Chief Designer.

The business continued to manufacture needles and sewing machine components as well as bicycles and quickly built up a reputation for being highly capable precision engineers.

Later in the year they received an order to machine parts for the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) of Enfield, Middlesex. Established in 1816, the RSAF was a government-run establishment set up to produce muskets, swords and rifles.

For Eadies to supply components to such a prestigious customer was something of a coup and the two owners put their heads together to come up with a way to mark this elevation in business status. The result was to use Royal from the RSAF name and Enfield from its location to call the new range of bicycles designed by Bob Walker Smith... Royal Enfields.

In 1893 a slogan was coined that capitalised on the robust nature of the bicycles and tied in once more with the RSAF connection: Made Like A Gun. It was a motif that passed onto the first Royal Enfield motorcycles when produced in 1901, and continues to this day.

This legendary trademark was often depicted as an emblem formed around a drawing of a field artillery piece or cannon. In 1913 Royal Enfield took this concept one step further. For promotional purposes they acquired an old Maxim machine gun and painted ‘Royal Enfield Cycles Made Like A Gun’ around its wheels. Much to the admiration of visitors, it was taken to exhibitions and displayed alongside the company’s motorcycles.

However, the prop famously fell foul of customs when shipped to Belfast for a motorcycle show. It was seized as a dangerous weapon that contravened stringent controls on the importation of arms into Ireland at a time when Irish Home Rule was being hotly debated and fought for.

It must have been highly amusing to the company that this notorious incident ensured even further publicity for the marque!