Stephen Hector Taylor-Smith was born in Shillong, Assam, India on February 4, 1891. He died on February 15, 1951. His career included working as a Customs Official, a policeman and a dentist. He was also the Secretary of the Indian Airmail Society. Stephen Smith had a life-long interest in rocketry and was encouraged by Indian officials to pursue experiments in this area. Between September 30, 1934 and December 4, 1944 he conducted some 270 rocket launches. Some 80 plus of these flights included rocket mail, 16 of which involved Silver Jubilee related postal items. Some of the firsts by Smith included successful rocket mail over a river, parcel rocket mail, rocket livestock transportation and the first vertical firing of a rocket east of Europe.		Picture courtesy of Superior Galleries
		In 1992 his contributions were recognised by the Indian Government with the issuing of a stamp and first day cover on the centenary of his birth