Where in Redditch part V

Albert Eadie was a bicycle and motorcycle pioneer. He was recruited by the shareholders of the firm of George Townsend & Co, which at the time, in 1880, made parts for sewing machines and bicycles at the Givry Needle Works in Hunt End and was not doing well under the Townsend leadership. Also recruited was Robert Walker Smith, who went on to become managing director of the Royal Enfield Co. Eadie and Smith took over the business in 1892 and formed the Eadie manufacturing company. The Enfield cycle company was created in 1893 to sell the products of the Eadie factory, both factories located in Hunt End (see our previous posting on Hunt End). In 1896, the Eadie Manufacturing company relocated to a brand new factory in Union Street, Redditch. In 1905 Eadie and Royal Enfield parted company, his company becoming amalgamated into BSA and him giving up his directorship of the Enfield Co. This is a picture (taken in 1930 when it was the Britannia Batteries Ltd.) of what was in 1905 the Eadie Manufacturing Company. The battery factory underwent many ownership changes and eventually closed in 1998. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, it took 5 years to decontaminate the site), nothing is left of the building, having been replaced by a B&Q Warehouse today, However, the gate to the main entrance, has been preserved in the perimeter of the B&Q!!! Another view of the gate today, (B&W photo credits: "More Redditch Remembered" by Alan Foxall and Ray Saunders, Breedon Books 2007)