Rolls100 - Commemorating 100 years of the death of Rt. Hon. Charles S. Rolls » Charles S. Rolls

Rolls meets the Wright brothers 1906

admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:43:54 +0000

Rolls went to the USA in 1906 to exhibit the Rolls-Royce cars at the New York Motor Show. While he was there attended an exhibition organised by the Aero Club of America. and was introduced to the Wright brothers by Patrick Alexander who was a member of the Aero Club. Orville and Wilbur were two Americans who are generally creditedwith inventing and building the world’s first successful aeroplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. When Rolls met them the brothers were still unwilling to give public demonstrations of their machines, so he was unable to witness what they did first hand; however, he was considerably impressed by what others, who had witnessed the brothers fly, could tell him.

Ballooning

admin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:20:25 +0000

About to take off

Rolls was a pioneer aviator and his interest in aviation began, initially, by flying balloons, both gas and hot air, and he made over 170 ascents, even taking his mother with him on some ascents..
Throughout the year of 2010 there will be ascents from the places in Monmouth where Rolls flew from.

The Rolls Exhibition at Monmouth’s Nelson Museum & Local History Centre

admin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:17:16 +0000

Monmouth’s town museum will be staging a special exhibition to mark the centenary of Charles Rolls’ death. Based upon the extensive collection of Rolls family material in the museum, the exhibition of photographs, memorabilia and documents will run from late January 2010 until the end of July 2010.

As well as dealing with Charles Rolls’ life, achievements and legacy, the exhibition will also look at his family and their involvement with the history of Monmouth.

Thanks to generous funding from Rolls-Royce plc, the museum is planning a programme of formal and informal learning activities from September 2009, using the Rolls story as the launch-pad to pursue historical, technological and skills-based themes

Taking Off

For further information contact Andrew Helme; andrewhelme@monmouthshire.gov.uk

Rolls Meets Royce

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:07:01 +0000

Henry Royce was a miller’s son from Huntingdonshire who had founded his own manufacturing company in 1884 in the Manchester district of Hulme, making domestic electrical fittings.

In the 1890s, he diversified into electric cranes and by the beginning of the 20th century Royce had started to, build motor cars simply out of interest in a corner of the Hulme workshop. One of the directors of his company, Henry Edmunds, bought one of the cars and was so impressed that he mentioned it to a friend, Charles Rolls, who ran a car showroom in London.

Rolls and Royce arranged to meet at the Midland Hotel in Manchester in May 1904, where they agreed that Royce would produce the cars and then sell them exclusively through Rolls’ showroom.

By 1906, business was so good that they decided to into manufacture cars together in association with Rolls’ partner, Claude Johnson, and they established the Rolls-Royce company.

Charles Rolls, the Engineer

admin — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:58:52 +0000

For those who think that Rolls was simply the front-man to Royce’s practical-hands-on knowledge, they would be quite wrong. Rolls attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied Mechanical and Applied Science and because of his fascination with engines, he was nicknamed Dirty Rolls.

When he was eighteen in 1896, he went to Paris to purchase his first car, a Peugeot Phaeton, and at the same time he joined the Automobile Club of France.

It is thought that his Peugeot was the first car based in Cambridge, and one of the first three cars owned in Wales. Rolls was a founding member of the Automobile Club of Great Britain.