THE HONOURABLE CHARLES STEWART ROLLS: 27 AUGUST – 1877 – 12 JULY 1910
An overview of the life and career of The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls, born 27 August 1877
A pioneering racing driver, balloonist and aviator, and a serious engineer and innovator in his own right
His many achievements underline the tragic brevity of his life
Sixth in a series profiling the principal characters in the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars story
Published in recognition of the marque’s 120th anniversary in 2024
Each account underlines and celebrates the essential human dimension of ‘the best car in the world’
“The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls lived a short but highly eventful life that epitomised the adventurous spirit of the age. Aristocratic, urbane and seemingly fearless, he was also a highly trained engineer exploring the leading edge of two new technologies – motoring and aviation – that were already changing the world. It is easy to forget that he and Royce worked together for just six years before his death in 1910, aged only 32, which makes his achievements and influence all the more remarkable. Given the extraordinary, enduring magnitude of all they accomplished in that short time, we remain inspired by his legacy, while wondering what might have been.” Andrew Ball, Head of Corporate Relations and Heritage, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls was born on 27 August 1877, the third son of Lord and Lady Llangattock. Though his birthplace was registered as 35 Hill Street, off Berkeley Square in London, his heart was always at the family’s ancestral home, The Hendre, in Monmouthshire, on the border of Wales and England.It was here that his aptitude and enthusiasm for engineering first emerged. Aged nine, he rigged up an electric bell between his bedroom and the stables; a few years later, he planned and supervised the installation of electricity in the main house. In an early demonstration of the persuasive powers that would serve him so well in his subsequent career, he persuaded Lord Llangattock to pay for it.Rolls went on to study Mechanical and Applied Science at Trinity College, Cambridge, where his constant tinkering with imported European cars earned him the unflattering (but probably accurate) nickname ‘Dirty Rolls’ from his fellow undergraduates. After gaining his degree, he quickly made a name for himself as a racing driver, finishing fourth in his first race, the 1899 Paris to Boulogne. Four years later, he competed in the fateful Paris-Madrid race, in which 34 drivers and spectators perished. That same year, he set an unofficial land speed record of almost 83mph in his 80 H.P. Mors.“
The other great love of Rolls’ life was aviation. He was a founding member of the Royal Aero Club, initially as a balloonist, making more than 170 flights. He described his first trip in a powered airship in 1907 as ‘something worth living for; it was the conquest of the air’. In 1910, he became the first pilot in history to fly across the English Channel and back non-stop, earning a personal message of congratulations from King George V and a tribute from one newspaper as ‘the greatest hero of the day’.`
But it was in motoring that Rolls chose to make his living. In January 1902, he opened one of Britain’s first car dealerships, C. S. Rolls & Co., in Fulham, West London, importing and selling French Panhard and Mors cars, and Minerva vehicles built in Belgium. The cars sold well, but Rolls was troubled that no domestically produced car met either his clients’ needs, or his own standards as a trained engineer and lifelong enthusiast.Among Rolls’ large social circle was Henry Edmunds, whom he had met through the Automobile Club of Great Britain & Ireland (later the Royal Automobile Club). Edmunds was a shareholder at Royce Limited and had been enormously impressed by the company’s early Royce 10 H.P. car, designed and built by Henry Royce, which he had driven in a 1,000-mile trial.It was one of those moments of serendipity that, with hindsight, seems inevitable: Edmunds realised the Royce 10 H.P. was precisely the high-quality, British-made car Rolls was looking for. Such was his enthusiasm that Rolls asked for a meeting with Royce, which Edmunds duly arranged on 4 May 1904 at The Midland Hotel in Manchester. On returning to London, Rolls enthused to his business partner – and future Managing Director at Rolls-Royce – Claude Johnson, that he had found ‘the greatest motor engineer in the world’ and that he would sell all the cars Royce could make.Rolls was the right man, in the right place, at the right time. A skilled engineer and enthusiast who understood motor cars intimately, he was also an astute businessman, with extensive connections in politics, industry, the media and even royalty. His quick mind immediately grasped the importance of marketing and public relations in promoting Rolls-Royce and its motor cars. Famously, he would demonstrate the refinement of the Silver Ghost by balancing a brimming glass of water on the radiator, with the engine running, thoroughly enjoying his audience’s reaction when not a drop was spilt.By 1910, Rolls-Royce was firmly established as the world’s pre-eminent luxury motor car maker. The company had outgrown its original premises and its factory in Derby had opened in July 1908. Its flagship model, the 40/50 H.P. ‘Silver Ghost’, was in high demand following dominant performances in a series of gruelling long-distance trials. It was a period of extraordinary innovation, expansion and commercial success that would rarely be repeated until the dawn of the Goodwood era in 2003.Everything changed on 12 July 1910. Less than two months after his triumphant double Channel crossing, Rolls was taking part in a flying competition at Bournemouth when the tailplane broke off his Wright Flyer. The aircraft plunged to the ground, crashing in a tangle of spars and canvas. Rolls was pronounced dead at the scene. He was only the twelfth person in history to be killed in a flying accident, and the first Briton to lose his life in a powered aircraft. He was just 32.The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls combined a fine technical mind with a bold, adventurous spirit. Small wonder that aviation and motoring held such powerful, almost magical attractions for him, and he was a true pioneer in both fields. That he achieved so much in so short a life is extraordinary and inspiring; indeed, it is tempting to wonder, regretfully, just how much more he might have accomplished.He had an innate ability to see things that few others could, with his forward-thinking nature perfectly encapsulated in an article he wrote for The Motor-Car Journal in 1900: “The electric car is perfectly noiseless and clean. There is no smell or vibration, and they should become very useful when fixed charging stations can be arranged. But for now, I do not anticipate that they will be very serviceable – at least for many years to come.” Indeed, it would take 120 years, but this statement proved to be prophetic with the launch of Spectre, the first all-electric Rolls-Royce motor car.His legacy is assured. His daring, imagination and desire to always think bigger, go further and attempt what had never been done before remain powerful, animating forces at the heart of the company that bears his name today. More than a century on, his imagination and courage endure at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, West Sussex.