Charles Rolls was born in 1877. He was to become a motoring an aviation pioneer who effectively became a household name following his meeting with Henry Royce and the subsequent formation of Rolls-Royce Limited in 1906.His interests then turned more to aviation and he is credited as being the second Briton to go up in an aeroplane when he flew with Wilbur Wright in 1908. He then purchased 6 Wright Flyer aircraft licence built by Short Brothers and after gaining flight experience in March 1910 became the first person to fly across the channel and back without landing. However, in July of that year he became the first Briton to die in a flying accident involving a powered aircraft when the tail of his Wright flyer broke off and he crashed fatally during a flying display near Bournemouth.
Although born in London Rolls had maintained strong links with the family ancestral home near Monmouth and consequently a memorial to him was erected there in 1911 where it has remained ever since. We checked it out yesterday and were surprised to find it was literally yards away from a pub where we had lunch on our honeymoon back in 1985 and I never noticed it. Guess I had other things on my mind!
1985:
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