Charles Rolls sold the cars, then gave his life to flying
The Rolls in Rolls-Royce was an aristocrat's son whose Eton classmates called him dirty Rolls for his love of engines. He was the salesman to Henry Royce's engineer. Within a few years he had turned from cars to aircraft, and at 32 he became the first Briton killed in a powered-aircraft accident.
Born in London's Berkeley Square on 27 August 1877, the third son of Baron Llangattock, Rolls kept close ties to the family estate near Monmouth in Wales. He studied mechanical and applied science at Trinity College, Cambridge, captained the university cycling club, and at 18 went to Paris to buy a Peugeot, believed to be the first car kept in Cambridge. He campaigned against laws restricting motor vehicles and helped found the Automobile Club of Great Britain.
Engineering was not his gift; selling was. With £6,600 from his father he opened one of Britain's first car dealerships in 1903, importing French and Belgian cars. A friend arranged for him to meet Royce at Manchester's Midland Hotel in 1904. Though Rolls preferred cars with more cylinders, the two-cylinder Royce won him over, and he agreed to take every car Royce could build under a joint badge. Rolls-Royce Limited followed in 1906, with Rolls supplying money and promotion, even touring America to advertise the cars' quietness.
By 1909 his attention had drifted skyward. He had already made over 170 balloon ascents, won a gold medal for the longest single balloon flight in 1903 and co-founded the club that became the Royal Aero Club. He flew as a passenger with Wilbur Wright in France, made more than 200 flights in his own Wright Flyer, and on 2 June 1910 completed the first non-stop double crossing of the Channel by aeroplane, taking 95 minutes.
Weeks later, during a display at Bournemouth, the tail of his aircraft broke away and he died. Statues in Monmouth and Dover recall him, and a memorial at Hengistbury Head was dedicated in 2022 on the anniversary of the crash.
Source: Charles Rolls
