Rolls-Royce celebrates co-founder's birthday with London pilgrimage

MANILA: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars will be celebrating the 144th birthday of its co-founder, The Hon Charles Stewart Rolls, tomorrow, August 27. In honor of the occasion, the company took part in a pilgrimage around London locations that became a part of his life and career, taking striking photos of the Ghost at each stop.

In a statement, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Chief Executive Officer Torsten Muller-Otvos said, “His audacity, fearlessness, love of adventure and willingness to push boundaries continue to inspire us and our products. To mark this occasion, which means so much to our company, we’ve visited significant places from Rolls’ story with Ghost — a motor car with technology, performance, craftsmanship and excellence which embodies everything this remarkable man stood for, cherished and pursued during his extraordinary life and career.”

Included in the itinerary were 35 Hill Street in Mayfair, 119 Piccadilly, Royal Automobile Club, 14-15 Conduit Street, and Berkeley Street.

Rolls was born at 35 Hill Street, Mayfair on August 27, 1877. As the third son of Lord and Lady Llangattock, Rolls was part of an affluent family. He studied at Eton and Cambridge while enjoying his passions for aviation and motor racing.

“By contrast, his business partner, Henry Royce, came from a humble background. In 1876, aged just 10, he was working as a telegram delivery boy at the Mayfair Post Office. His "beat" included Hill Street, so it is perfectly possible that he delivered congratulatory letters and telegrams to Rolls’ proud parents,” Rolls-Royce Motor Cars revealed in a statement.

In 1901, Rolls co-founded the Royal Aero Club with Frank Hedges Butler and Vera Butler. The club was headquartered at 119 Piccadilly until 1961. Rolls started as a balloonist and took home the Gordon Bennett Gold Medal in 1903 for the longest sustained time overhead. He also became the second person in Britain to get an aeroplane pilot’s license, the first Englishman to fly an aeroplane across the English Channel, and the first aviator to fly non-stop from England to France and back again. Up until this day, the Royal Aero Club continues to be the national governing and coordinating body of air sport and recreational flying in Britain.

Rolls is also one of the founding members of the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland, which was renamed Royal Automobile Club (RAC) in 1897. Henry Edmunds, a fellow RAC member, introduced Rolls to Henry Royce at the Midland Hotel in Manchester in 1904. Meanwhile, RAC Secretary Claude Johnson became Roll’s business partner in his car dealership, CS Rolls & Co, and later became the managing director of Rolls-Royce. A year after Roll’s tragic death in a flying accident, RAC took up residence at 89 Pall Mall.

From 1905 until his death in 1910, Rolls had his office at 14-15 Conduit Street, a building that links Bond Street to Regent Street. The building also served as the venue of the demonstration drives of early Rolls-Royce models. In 2010, it was marked with an English Heritage Blue Plaque for its historic significance.

The current flagship store of Rolls-Royce in the UK is located at Berkeley Street, which is close to Rolls’ birthplace. It is the first Rolls-Royce outlet to be transformed with the brand’s new corporate identity.

Photos from Rolls-Royce

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