Charles Rolls
| Charles Rolls | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
27 August 1877 Berkeley Square, London |
| Died | 12 July 1910 (aged 32) Southbourne, Bournemouth |
| Nationality | English born Welshman |
| Engineering career | |
| Projects | Rolls-Royce |
| Signature | |
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Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was an English born Welshman who was a motoring and aviation pioneer. Together with Henry Royce he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with a powered aircraft, when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke off during a flying display in the Southbourne district of Bournemouth. He was aged 32.
Rolls was born in Berkeley Square, London, third son of the and . Despite his London birth, he retained a strong family connection with his ancestral home of The Hendre, near Monmouth, Wales. After attending Mortimer Vicarage Preparatory School in Berkshire, he was educated at Eton College where his developing interest in engines earned him the nickname dirty Rolls.
In 1894 he attended a private crammer in Cambridge which helped him gain entry to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied mechanical and applied science. In 1896, at the age of 18, he travelled 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 based in Cambridge, and one of the first three cars owned in Wales. An early motoring enthusiast, he joined the Self-Propelled Traffic Association which campaigned against the restrictions imposed on motor vehicles by the Locomotive Act, and became a founder member of the Automobile Club of Great Britain with which it merged in 1897.
Rolls was a keen cyclist and spent time at Cambridge bicycle racing. In 1896, he won a Half Blue and the following year became captain of the Cambridge University Bicycle Club.
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