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In 1907, brothers William and Edward Douglas began manufacturing motorcycles in Kingswood, near Bristol. By 1914 there was only one name in the world of motorcycles; Douglas.

From a small factory they grew to a company employing over 5,000 people from the Kingswood area, all proud to work for a company that made some of the best bikes in the world.

After their success at the Isle of Man TT race in 1912, Douglas were the envy of spectators and riders, but there was another group of people that were keeping a watchful eye on the Kingswood company – the Ministry of Defence (MoD). After the race, which Harry Bashall won, the MoD spoke to the managers about the bike and told them how impressed they were.

This impression was acted upon in 1914, when war broke and the MoD needed motorbikes to get their men quickly around the trenches. They also needed engines to pump water and Marconi used them for his communications.

The Douglas brothers were delighted by the deal and thought they had signed a one-off contract of 300. But once the celebrating was over in the Kingswood office a clerk spotted that they had actually agreed to producing 300 motorbikes a month…for the duration of the war.

The primary role of the motorcycles during the war was to facilitate military communications through army despatch riders and couriers. It is estimated that the company produced 70,000 machines for military use, which suggests that the British Army was not the company’s only customer.

Official government statistics reveal that by March 1919 the British Army at home and overseas had in service close to 36,000 machines. During the 1920s, the Douglas motorcycle became the mainstay of the racing circuits breaking all kinds of speed and endurance records.

The deal made Douglas the biggest motorbike manufacturer in the world, and with the expansion of the factory the Kingswood site became the biggest in Europe.

Location: Kingswood, Bristol BS15 (factory no longer exists)
Image shows a dispatch rider on a Douglas motorbike
Photograph courtesy of Bill Douglas

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