The Lady on the Lawn and Royal Enfield

We know the model of motorcycle, but not the name of the model.

 We don't know her name, but I think we have an appropriate nickname for her: "The Lady on the Lawn." 

Her nickname was coined by Bob Murdoch, archivist of the Royal Enfield Owners Club (UK), who sent the evidence to me in an email. 

"See attached, what I think is the artwork made from the photo session of the lady on the lawn, 1931," he wrote. 

The motorcycle is rendered exactly; the rider not so much.

I had speculated that a particular photo shoot for the 1931 Royal Enfields had resulted in some racy illustrations the company used in its advertisements. 

I first noticed the woman model, dressed in white and seated on a powerful Royal Enfield, in photographs in the Hitchcocks Motorcycles archive of factory photographs.

The photos themselves weren't used in the advertisements of that day: they were traced for line drawings that could be colorized as needed, and even improved by artists.

In the course of being turned into art the woman model could be made to look prettier, or, at least, more comfortable on the motorcycle.

Her perceived emotions could be carried to extremes. I say the illustrations were "racy" because some showed the woman riding at breakneck speed, her scarf flying in the wind.

From the same year, but possibly from a different photo shoot, "The Joy of the Road" artwork was labelled "Cover for Leaflet."

The Hitchcocks archive has no doubt what kind of Royal Enfield motorcycle the Lady on the Lawn is riding:

It is "a 346cc Royal Enfield Model CO. This RE model was for the 1931 season and features OHV and a total loss oil pump mounted externally on the timing cover."

But who was the girl? Could she really even ride a motorcycle?

UPDATE: Jorge Pullin has found SEVEN additional photos of the ladies on the lawn (yes, there were two women models present the day of the photo shoot) posing for photos that could have been used in Royal Enfield advertisements for the 1931 model year. You can see the photos on his blog, My Royal Enfields.

What I can't find is any evidence that any of these other photos resulted in Royal Enfield advertisements. I will keep my eyes open.