Charles Rolls
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Born | Charles Stewart Rolls 27 August 1877 Berkeley Square, London, England |
Died | 12 July 1910 Southbourne, Bournemouth, England | (aged 32)
Cause of death | Air accident |
Education | Eton College |
Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
Occupation(s) | Motor car promoter and aviator |
Known for | Co-founder, Rolls-Royce |
Parents |
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Charles Stewart Rolls
Early life
Rolls was born in
In 1894, he attended a private
Rolls was a keen cyclist and spent time at Cambridge bicycle racing. In 1896, he won a Half Blue and the following year became captain of the Cambridge University Bicycle Club.[5][6]
Rolls graduated from Cambridge in 1898 and began working on the steam yacht Santa Maria followed by a position at the London and North Western Railway in Crewe.[2] However, his talents lay more in salesmanship and motoring pioneering than practical engineering; in January 1903, with the help of £6,600 provided by his father, he started one of Britain's first car dealerships,[7] C. S. Rolls & Co. based in Lillie Hall, Fulham, to import and sell French Peugeot and Belgian Minerva vehicles.[8][9]
Partnership with Royce
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2020) |
Rolls was introduced to
The first Rolls-Royce car, the Rolls-Royce 10 hp, was unveiled at the Paris Salon in December 1904, although in the early advertising it was the name of Rolls that was emphasised over that of Royce. In 1906 Rolls and Royce formalised their partnership by creating Rolls-Royce Limited, with Rolls appointed Technical Managing Director on a salary of £750 per annum plus 4% of the profits in excess of £10,000. Rolls provided the financial backing and business acumen to complement Royce's technical expertise. In 1907 Rolls-Royce Limited bought out C. S. Rolls & Co.
Rolls put much effort into publicising the quietness and smoothness of the Rolls-Royce, and at the end of 1906 travelled to the US to promote the new cars. The company was winning awards for the quality and reliability of its cars by 1907. But by 1909 Rolls' interest in the business was waning, and at the end of the year he resigned as Technical managing director and became a non-executive director.[2]
Pioneer aviator
Rolls was a pioneer aviator and initially, balloonist,[7] making over 170 balloon ascents. In 1903 he won the Gordon Bennett Gold Medal for the longest single flight time.
By 1907 Rolls' interest turned increasingly to flying and he tried to persuade Royce to design an aero engine. He became the second Briton to go up in an aeroplane. Piloted by
Rolls became the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane, taking 95 minutes on 2 June 1910.[7] For this feat, which included the first eastbound aerial crossing of the English Channel, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club.[13][note 1] There is a statue in Monmouth to commemorate the flight and another, by Kathleen Scott, in Dover.
Death
On 12 July 1910, at the age of 32, Rolls was killed in an air crash at
His grave lies at the churchyard of
"Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God."
A statue in his memory, in which he is seen holding a biplane model, was erected in Agincourt Square, Monmouth. A further memorial to him was unveiled in 1981 in the bottom playing field of St Peter's Catholic School, Bournemouth, which was developed on the site of Hengistbury Airfield. There is a stained-glass window in All Saints' Church, Eastchurch on the Isle of Sheppey, dedicated jointly to Rolls and to fellow pioneer aviator Cecil Grace.[15]
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Statue of Charles Rolls in Dover
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Rolls family graves, Llangattock-Vibon-Avel, Monmouthshire
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Charles Rolls (centre), 1910
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Memorial window by Karl Parsons at Eastchurch, Kent
A memorial to Charles Rolls was dedicated 12 July 2022, at Hengistbury Head, Southbourne, Dorset, between the car park and the Hiker cafe.
This was the same day, date and time as it was in 1910 at the time of his crash at Southbourne, Hampshire [as it was at the time] when the tail came off of his Wright Flyer during a flying display on the airfield at what is now St Peters School.
Family tree
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Cultural depictions
- Actor The Edwardians.[16]
Note
- Louis Bleriot on 25 July 1909 and Count Jacques de Lessepson 21 May 1910 crossed West-bound before him
- ^ "Mr. Rolls is the tenth airman who has met with a fatal accident in a motor-driven flying machine, and he is the first Englishman who has sacrificed his life in the cause of modern aviation." (Aeroplane Accident, Mr Rolls Killed at Bournemouth. The Times, Wednesday, 13 July 1910; p. 12; Issue 39323)
References
- ^ "The Hendre". Geograph Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
- ^ ISBN 1-84046-151-9.
- ^ "Rolls, the Hon. Charles Stewart (RLS895CS)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ISBN 0-8135-2691-4.
- ^ a b Aeroplane Accident, Mr Rolls Killed at Bournemouth. The Times, Wednesday, 13 July 1910; p. 12; Issue 39323
- ^ The Bicycle, 15 July 1942, pG. Rolls won a half-blue because cycling was not considered a full sport. Rolls also had a collection of bicycles from solos up to four-man tandems.
- ^ a b c "Charles Rolls". BBC. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
- ^ "Draft London Plan Consultation: ref. Chapter 7 Heritage – Neglect & Destruction, The "Lillie Enclave" Fulham" (PDF). Lillie Road Residents Association. February 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- ^ "C S Rolls' car showroom, Lillie Hall, Fulham, London, 1903". Science Museum. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- ^ "U.S Centennial of Flight Commission: Wilbur & Orville Wright: A Chronology".Flight Log 1908 Camp d'Auvours, Le Mans, France.Retrieved 25 July 2018
- ^ John Blake."A Brief History Of The Royal Aero Club." The Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 24 July 2018
- ^ "The Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom – Official Notices to Members". Flight: 185. March 1910. Retrieved 29 June 2011. – 12 March 1910
- ^ "Royal Aero Club Awards & Trophies". The Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
- ^ "Hengistbury Head in the 20th Century". Hengistbury Head. Archived from the original on 20 September 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
- ^ Eastchurch Parish Council Archived 22 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 21 May 2010.
- ^ Stanton B. Garner (1999). Trevor Griffiths: Politics, Drama, History. University of Michigan Press. p. 105.
External links
Charles Rolls Heritage Trust https://crht1910.org.uk/
- Works by or about Charles Rolls at Wikisource
- "Charles Rolls of Monmouthshire, co-founder of the world famous Rolls-Royce company". Famous Welsh. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011. – More about Charles Rolls
- "Charles Rolls". Early Birds of Aviation, Inc. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2011. – Transcription of the report of his death in a contemporary newspaper
- "Search". Gathering the Jewels. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2011. – Old Photo of Rolls and the Royal Family
- "Untitled Document". Centennial of Flight. South Wales Argus. Retrieved 17 May 2014. – Charles Rolls goes on his first aeroplane flight with Wilbur Wrighton 8 October 1908 at Camp D'Auvours, France
- Charles Stewart Rolls Statue, Dover Seafront – Post-renovation photograph and description