Charles Stewart Rolls FRGS FRMetS MICE was born on August 27, 1877, and died on July 12, 1910. He was a British pioneer in the fields of automobiles and airplanes. He helped start the Rolls-Royce car company with Henry Royce. Rolls was the first British person to die in an accident involving a powered airplane. This happened when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke off during a flying display in Bournemouth. He was 32 years old at the time.
Early life
Rolls was born in Berkeley Square, London, as the third son of the 1st Baron Llangattock and Lady Llangattock. Although he was born in London, he kept a strong connection to his family's ancestral home, The Hendre, a country house near Monmouth in Monmouthshire, Wales. After attending Mortimer Vicarage Preparatory School in Berkshire, he studied at Eton College. His growing interest in engines earned him the nickname "dirty Rolls." Although his father disliked his choice of education, he still supported him.
In 1894, he attended a private preparation school in Cambridge, which helped him gain admission to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1895. There, he studied mechanical and applied science. In 1896, at age 18, he traveled to Paris to buy his first car, a Peugeot Phaeton, and joined the Automobile Club of France. His Peugeot is believed to have been the first car owned in Cambridge and one of the first three cars in Wales. As an early supporter of cars, he joined the Self-Propelled Traffic Association, which worked to reduce rules for motor vehicles under the Locomotive Acts. He also became a founding member of the Automobile Club of Great Britain, which merged with the Association in 1897.
Rolls was an active cyclist and participated in bicycle racing at Cambridge. In 1896, he earned a Half Blue, and the next year became captain of the Cambridge University Bicycle Club.
Rolls graduated from Cambridge in 1898 and worked on the steam yacht Santa Maria. Later, he worked for the London and North Western Railway in Crewe. However, his strengths were in sales and promoting cars rather than engineering. In January 1903, with £6,600 from his father, he opened one of Britain's first car dealerships, C. S. Rolls & Co., located in Lillie Hall, Fulham. The business imported and sold French Peugeot and Belgian Minerva vehicles.
Partnership with Royce
Rolls met Henry Royce through a friend named Henry Edmunds, who was also a director of Royce Ltd. Edmunds showed Rolls a car made by Royce and arranged for them to meet at the Midland Hotel in Manchester on May 4, 1904. Although Rolls usually preferred cars with three or four cylinders, he was impressed by Royce's two-cylinder car, the Royce 10. On December 23, 1904, Rolls agreed to buy all the cars Royce could produce. These cars would have two, three, four, or six cylinders and would be named Rolls-Royces.
The first Rolls-Royce car, the Rolls-Royce 10 hp, was shown at the Paris Salon in December 1904. Early advertisements focused more on the name "Rolls" than "Royce." In 1906, Rolls and Royce officially formed a partnership by creating a company called Rolls-Royce Limited. Rolls was named Technical Managing Director and received a salary of £750 per year plus 4% of profits over £10,000. Rolls provided financial support and business knowledge to help Royce's technical skills. In 1907, Rolls-Royce Limited purchased C. S. Rolls & Co.
Rolls worked hard to promote the quiet and smooth performance of Rolls-Royce cars. In late 1906, he traveled to the United States to advertise the new models. By 1907, the company was receiving awards for the quality and reliability of its cars. However, by 1909, Rolls was less interested in the business. At the end of that year, he left his position as Technical Managing Director and became a non-executive director.
Pioneer aviator
Rolls was a pioneer aviator and also a balloonist, making more than 170 balloon flights. In 1903, he won the Gordon Bennett Gold Medal for the longest single flight time.
By 1907, Rolls became more interested in flying and encouraged Royce to design an airplane engine. He became the second British person to fly in an airplane. On October 8, 1908, Wilbur Wright flew him from Camp d'Auvours, near Le Mans, France, for a flight lasting four minutes and twenty seconds. Rolls purchased one of six Wright Flyer planes built by Short Brothers with permission from the Wright Brothers. Starting in early October 1909, he made more than 200 flights in this aircraft. In 1901, he co-founded a ballooning club with Frank Hedges Butler, which later became the Royal Aero Club. In March 1910, he became the second person licensed by the club to fly an airplane.
On June 2, 1910, Rolls was the first person to fly nonstop across the English Channel in both directions, taking 95 minutes. For this achievement, which included the first eastbound flight over the English Channel, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club. A statue in Monmouth and another, created by Kathleen Scott, in Dover, honor his flight.
Death
On 12 July 1910, at the age of 32, Rolls died in a plane crash at Hengistbury Airfield in Southbourne, Bournemouth. The tail of his Wright Flyer broke off during a flying display. He was the first British person to die in an accident involving a powered aircraft, and the eleventh person worldwide to die in such an accident. He was also the first person in the United Kingdom to die in a powered aircraft crash.
His grave is located in the churchyard of St Cadoc's Church in Llangattock-Vibon-Avel. Many members of the Rolls family are buried there in family tombs. His grave is near Llangattock Manor and has an inscription.
A statue of Charles Rolls, holding a model of a biplane, was built in Agincourt Square, Monmouth. Another memorial to him was placed in 1981 at the bottom playing field of St Peter's Catholic School in Bournemouth, which was built on the site of Hengistbury Airfield. A stained-glass window in All Saints' Church, Eastchurch on the Isle of Sheppey, is dedicated to both Rolls and fellow pioneer aviator Cecil Grace.
Memorials include:
• Statue of Charles Rolls, Monmouth
• Statue of Charles Rolls in Dover
• Rolls family graves, Llangattock-Vibon-Avel, Monmouthshire
• Charles Rolls (centre), 1910
• Memorial window by Karl Parsons at Eastchurch, Kent
A memorial to Charles Rolls was dedicated on 12 July 2022 at Hengistbury Head in Southbourne, Dorset, between the car park and the Hiker cafe. This was the same day, date, and time as his crash in 1910 at Southbourne, Hampshire (now known as St Peter's School), when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke off during a flying display.