The Founders

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Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce came from very different backgrounds, they had
very different educations and, until shortly before they met, their careers were going in very
different directions. Yet in 1904, they joined forces to build and sell motor cars.
And, just two years later, the partnership had produced the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost:
a car acclaimed as the "best in the world."

In the late 1800's, Henry Royce and Charles Rolls were going
through experiences which, with hindsight made their meeting
and the cars they produced almost inevitable.

Royce was the son of an impoverished miller from Alwalton near Peterborough and he had, by any standards,
a difficult start in life.
He began work at the age of 10, selling newspapers for W H Smitht Bishopsgate and Clapham Junction.
But he soon left that to find his
first real job working as an apprentice for theGreat Northern Railway
in Peterborough.
It was while he was there that he learnt most of the basics of engineering,and it is also obvious that even at that age,
Royce was determined to do well because he set about teaching himself foreign languages,
algebra and the fundamentals of electricity.
Three years later, he moved to a firm of machine tool makers in Leeds where he worked
a 54 hour week for just 11 shillings (55p).
His next move was to London where his self taught knowledge of electricity enabled him to get a job
with one of the pioneer electric light companies. From there, at the age of 19, he went to Liverpool as
technical advisor to the Lancashire Maxim and Western Electric Company. And then, just three years later,
he and a partner, A E Claremont, set up in business in cooke Street, Manchester,

making electric light fittings, dynamos and cranes. Such was Royce's determination that by the turn of the
century the order books were full and the business was going from strength to strength.

All this, of course, was quite an achievement for someone who had started almost literally with nothing.
But the real turning point was yet to come. This happened in 1903 when Royce bought himself a
second hand French Decauville car for the journey between his home and the factory.The car, he found,
was difficult to start, it overheated with depressing regularity, it vibrated, it was unreliable and the ignition
system was hopelessly inefficient. (This may be the point which annoyed Royce the most. He was, after all,
quite an expert in electricity in his own right ). Royce eventually became so disillusioned with the car that he
decided, in characteristic style, that he could do better himself. And just a few days later, he announced to his
colleagues that he was going to build three 2 cylinder motor cars of his own design. The first of these, designed
and built almost completely by Royce himself, rolled out of the factory gates in the spring of 1904.

The cramped conditions of
Royce Ltd's Cooke Street, Manchester factory.
This was part of an extention built in 1894

The first car was a success in almost every way; it started easily, ran smoothly and quickly was very reliable,
something which never failed to impress everyone who saw or rode in the car. About the same time,
Charles Rolls was also in business for himself (like Royce, very successfully).
But achieving this had been rather less of a struggle for Rolls than it was for his future partner.
Rolls was born into the aristocracy, being the third son of Lord and Lady Llangattock.
The landed gentry, of course, were never expected to work in those days and Rolls,
like most young men in similar families, was groomed for a life of ease and luxury.
he was educated at Eton and Cambridge University where his natural flair

for engineering work enabled him to gain a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Sciences.
It was while he was still at Cambridge that he began to take an interest in the fledgling motor industry.
He went to France with his father and on his return bought himself a
3 3/4hp Peugeot,a car which soon made a name for itself with Rolls at the wheel.
It was the first car ever seen at Cambridge and when he drove it to the family home at Monmouth,
the journey took him two days including many hours spent working on the car
at the roadside to keep it going. By the time Rolls left Cambridge University,
he was probably the most skilful driver in the country.
And he proved his skill by winning the first 1000 mile (1600 km) reliability trial promoted by
Sir Alfred Harmsworth so convincingly that a special gold medal was struck
in his honour. Later, in 1903, Rolls set a new world record of 93 mph (150 km/h) driving an 80 HP
Mors at Phoenix Park in Dublin.

Meanwhile in 1902, Rolls had gone into business for himself selling motor cars and the firm, known as
C S Rolls and Co.quickly became a leading motor car distributor. A few months after its formation
Rolls persuaded Claude Johnson to join the firm as a partner. Johnson had built up a reputation as a
brilliant organiser of motoring events and was the first secretary of what is now the RAC.
Often known as the "hyphen" in Rolls-Royce, he was responsible for much of the growth
of the Rolls-Royce company, especially after Rolls' death in 1910 and Royce's breakdown
shortly afterwards.

Rolls, however, still had two major ambitions. First he wanted his name to be associated with cars in the
same way as Chubb's was with safes and Steinway's was with pianos. And, secondly, he wanted to find a
British car as good or preferably better that the foreign cars he was then selling. But he very nearly missed
his chance to achieve both
these aims at once because when Henry Edmunds,a shareholder in Royce Ltd, told Rolls about
Henry Royce's new 2 cylinder car, Rolls assumed that it would be as noisy and inefficient as all the
other 2 cylinder cars on the road. He was, of course, wrong and
Henry Edmunds persuaded Rolls to make the trip up to Manchester to see the car. Rolls,
Edmunds and Royce met at the Midland Hotel in Manchester and the meeting was an immediate success.
Rolls tried the car and became a wholehearted enthusiast
and he said afterwards that Royce "was the man I have been looking for for years".

Royce's cars on C S Rolls stand at Olympia, London, 1906

An agreement was quickly reached giving Rolls exclusive sales rights for all the cars Royce could produce
and the two men really got down to work. A 10 HP car, a 10 HP chassis and engine, a 15 HP chassis,
a 20 HP car and a 30 HP 6 cylinder engine were all exhibited at the Paris Salon in early December 1904.
And then, on December 23rd, a contract between the two companies was signed, including a clause stipulating
that all the cars should be called "Rolls-Royce".The company which would soon be building
"the best cars in the world" was in business.

Unfortunately, Rolls was only to enjoy the success of the company which bore his name for a few more years
becauseon 12th July 1910 he tragically met his death in a flying accident at Bournemouth. In contrast,
Royce was to spend many more years at the head of the company stamping his unique personality on
Rolls-Royce motor cars right up to his death on 22nd April 1933.

The showrooms where C S Rolls started in Conduit Street London,
were still the London offices and showrooms of Rolls-Royce until 1996

The factory at Crewe as it is today
By day and by Night

Link to: W O Bentley

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