Who were Rolls and Royce? The Rolls and Royce of Rolls-Royce Limited were Charles Rolls and Henry Royce.
Rolls-Royce is a hugely famous brand name, but it is actually not a single company these days. The company has two parts. The largest part is Rolls-Royce plc, which is the part of the company that makes engines for planes and helicopters, both civilian and military, missile engines, and engines for submarines, primarily nuclear. Then there is the Rolls-Royce motorcar part, which is much smaller, but probably more famous. This is the luxury car brand and is owned by BMW. BMW acquired Rolls-Royce in a deal which gave the Bentley part (which Rolls-Royce had owned since 1931) to Volkswagen.
So, who were Rolls and Royce? Charles Rolls was born in 1877. He was born into a wealthy family. He was the third son of Baron Llangattock. He attended Trinity College, which is part of Cambridge University, and he studied mechanical engineering. He was fascinated with the emerging technology of cars and planes. He loved to drive, and he was the holder of the world land speed record in 1903. He managed to reach 133 km/h, which doesn’t sound like a lot today, but the first real car had only been produced in 1886, and that had a top speed of 16 km/h. Charles Rolls set up one of the first car dealerships in Britain and imported Peugeot cars from France.
Henry Royce was born in 1863. He was not born into money, and his father died in a poorhouse when Royce was nine. He managed to put himself through school by delivering newspapers. He was occasionally homeless and lived in various households with acquaintances of the family. He managed to get an apprenticeship at the Great Northern Railway Works, which his aunt paid for. He learned a lot there, and he spent his evenings studying all of the subjects he had missed out on by not attending university. His aunt’s money ran out, and he lost the apprenticeship. He managed to get a job at a toolmaker’s, but there was a depression and he lost that, too. He made his way to London and found work at the Electric Lighting and Power Generating Company. He was an extremely hard worker and continued to spend his evenings at community college. He was finally earning a salary and could begin to save. Within two years, he had enough money to start his own company. He moved up to Manchester, which was cheaper, and set up a company making electrical parts. By 1889, there was a sudden and rapid increase in the amount of people using electricity, and their business took off. For the first time in his life, Henry Royce had money. By the end of the 19th century, Henry Royce had become interested in motor cars. He bought a second hand French car, found all of the faults in it, and improved it. His philosophy was, “take the best that exists and make it better”. By 1903, he had designed and built his own engine.
Charles Rolls and Henry Royce might never have met if it hadn’t been for a man called Henry Edmunds. He was a friend of Charles Rolls, and he was an investor in Henry Royce’s company. Charles Rolls was still importing French cars and selling them in the UK, but he wanted to start selling British made cars. Edmunds introduced Charles Rolls to Henry Royce on the 4th of May, 1904. Royce brought a car with one of his engines in it, and Rolls test drove it. He was amazed and knew that these were the cars he had been looking for. He offered Royce a deal. He said that he would sell as many cars as Royce could make. And Rolls-Royce was born. Royce continued to build car,s and Rolls continued to sell them. However, a lot of the credit for the fame of the company has to go to a partner of theirs, and the man who became the managing director of Rolls-Royce, Claude Johnson. He came up with the marketing campaigns that pushed Rolls-Royce cars into the public’s attention and showcased them as the best cars in the world. He managed to make the company a global car company.
Charles Rolls had become more interested in flying than he was in the car business. He tried to persuade Royce to make plane engines, which he wouldn’t, at least at the time. Rolls was an avid flier, and he was the second British person in the world to fly. He flew on a plane piloted by Wilbur Wright. Unfortunately, Rolls was killed in 1910 at the age of 32 when the tail snapped off his plane. His death hit Royce heavily, and a combination of that and his propensity to overwork caused him to collapse. Royce continued to design engines, but he was kept apart from the practical side. His health started to decline from 1922, and he had to mostly step away. He died in 1933. And that was Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. And that is what I learned today.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Limited
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Motors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rolls
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Royce
https://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com/en_GB/inspiring-greatness/values/how-rolls-met-royce.html
https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/120-years-ago-rolls-met-royce
https://www.rollsroycepasadena.com/rolls-royce-information/who-owns-rolls-royce
Photo by Mike Bird: https://www.pexels.com/photo/silver-colored-car-decor-191327/