Teacher Notes: Charles Stewart Rolls 1877 – 191
Known as a pioneering aviator and motorist, Charles Stewart Rolls was born on the 27th August 1877, a third son for John Allan Rolls (Baron Llangattock in 1892) and his wife Georgiana Marcia Rolls. Charles had three older siblings John Maclean Rolls, Henry Allen Rolls and sister Eleanor Georgiana Rolls.
Charles was born into a wealthy Victorian family which had acquired prosperity from land, freeholds and leaseholds in Surrey and large estatesin Monmouthshire. This was mainly due to a fortuitous marriage in 1767 between his great great grandfather John Rolls (1735 – 1801) and Sarah Coysh, daughter of Thomas Coysh of Camberwell.
Charles’s Education
Charles attended MortimerVicaragePreparatory School in Berkshire then went to
EtonCollege from April 1891 to March 1894. This was in keeping with the family tradition as his father and brothers had also previously attended Eton. During his time at Eton Charles developed an interest in engines so much that he had the nick name ‘Dirty Rolls’.
Fortunately for us all, Charles although offered a place as a candidate for the Grenadier Guards via the Royal Military College, Sandhurst(by the Duke of Cambridge, then Commander in Chief of the Army), abandoned this idea. He startedin November 1894 a ‘Private Cramming’ (an intense course) with Mr Herbert Pigg in Cambridge to try and gain entry at Trinity College Cambridge to study Engineering. He was successful.
Rolls graduated from Cambridge in June 1898 and had already been accepted as a student member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Charles worked on the Steam Yacht Santa Aria and later briefly in the workshops of the London and North Western Railway at Crewe.
Interests in the Motor Car
During Charles’s time at university he developed an interest in the Motor Car or ‘Autocar.’ He saved up and bought his first Motor Car in October 1896 from Paris, a 3¾ hp Peugeot Phaeton which was also the first car to be based around Cambridge. When he drove the car from Cambridge to the family home in Monmouthshire it took him two days and numerous hours working on the car after many breakdowns! So Rolls became really one of the most experienced and skilful drivers of the time. Laterhe became a member of the Automobile Club.Charles also purchased a Bollée and a de Dion Motor Car which were steam powered and was able to do any repair work necessary to them in the University Engineering Laboratories.
C.S. Rolls & Co.
In January 1902 Charles Rolls started one of Britain’s first car dealerships CS Rolls & Co with the financial help of his father. Based in Fulham the company imported the Peugeot Car from France and the Minerva Car from Belgian to sell in Britain. Here Rolls’s salesmanship expertise and motoring skills developed.
Rolls-Royce Limited
Henry Edmunds a member of the Automobile Club and a director of Royce Limited introduced Charles Rolls to Henry Royce.
The first Rolls-Royce car was produced in December of 1904. This was the Rolls-Royce 10hp which they launched at the Paris Salon.
In 1906 Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce formalised their partnership and created the company Rolls-Royce Limited.
Interests in Ballooning and Aviation.
On the 8th September 1898three months after Rolls graduated from Cambridge, he took his first balloon ride with Percival Spencer a famous aeronaut of the time. They travelled from CrystalPalace to Epping Forest – 16 miles.
Charles’s interest in ballooning developed and he made over a 100 balloon ascents. Through these aerial exploits the vogue of ‘Hare and Hounds’ grew. This was a cross-country event where a lead balloon was pursued by a pack of other balloons.
The formation of the Aero Club also took place, which was later known in 1910 as the Royal Aero Club. The club was responsible for training military pilots in its early days.
Rolls helped put British ballooning onto the international map by his entry in the first Gordon Bennett Balloon race – Paris. He was placed third (winning a silver medal) and won the Gould cup for highest placed member of the British team and Gold Medal from the French Aero Club for the longest endurance.
Charles Rolls had his first and only Airship flight in November 1907 and tried unsuccessfully to persuade Royce to design aero engines.
In the July of 1909 Rolls started learning to fly in a Wright Glider and later in October took possession of his first aeroplane – (a Short /Wright No 1). This was just one of several planes Rolls owned. He was the second person issued with a Pilot’s License by the Royal Aero Club in March 1910.
On June 2nd 1910 Charles Rolls became the first man ever to make a double crossing of the English Channel.
The Death of Charles Rolls.
Aged only 32, Charles on the12 July 1910 was involved in a fatal air crash at Hengistbury Airfield in Bournemouth. The tail of his Wright Flyer Aeroplane broke whist manoeuvring out from a steep descent. His death was reported as a ‘National tradgedy.’ Amongst the countless telegrams and letters of sympathy to the family was a telegram from King George V. “The Queen and I are terribly shocked at the awfulaccident which has just befallen your dear son whom we had known for so many years.”