The story of Rolls-Royce

when this poor kid began tinkering with

engines nobody could have guessed that

he would one day create some of the most

expensive cars in the world this is frederick henry royce born in 1863

in all wilton in england henry was the

youngest of five children his parents

james and mary ran a flower mill james

had followed in his father's footsteps

but he lacked business skills profits

were meager and for many years the royce

family lived in poverty

things got worse and in 1867 they had to

file for bankruptcy hoping to carve out

a better life for themselves the family

moved to london by this time the

four-year-old henry already had his

first job

a bird scarer on a local farm his pay

six pence a week

then in 1872 disaster struck again

henry's father passed away

now all the children had to chip in to

make ends meet including the

nine-year-old henry he began selling

newspapers and delivering telegrams

henry's early years of poverty had a

profound effect on him and by the time

he turned 15 years he had completed only

one year of school as a young teenager he began an apprenticeship with the great northern railway works

his aunt had offered him some financial

support and despite not having a formal

education henry grasped every

opportunity to educate himself studying

algebra french and electrical

engineering in his free time but after

three years he was forced to quit due to

a lack of money

after quitting his apprenticeship henry

briefly worked at a tool-making company

in leeds

and then for the electric light and

power company in london in 1882 he moved

once again this time to liverpool where

he continued to work for the electric

light and power company his true

ambition was to make engineering his

full-time job however so at 22 years old

he started a business with his fellow

engineer friend ernest claremont

they named it fh royce and company and

for the next few years they worked

around the clock to make electrical

components such as doorbells and dynamos

the company kept expanding and by 1894

they were already making electric cranes

too

but henry's interest started taking him

somewhere else motor cars

while henry royce plays a vital role in

the rolls-royce story the brand's name

suggests there's also another person

that we shouldn't forget and that person

is charles stewart rules born in 1877 in

london's affluent berkeley square

charles rolls was the youngest child of

lord and lady langatak

having developed a passion for

engineering from very early on he went

on to study mechanical engineering at

trinity college in cambridge

charles knew how to stand out having

gained a reputation for tinkering with

engines he earned himself the nickname

dirty rolls and during his studies he

was the first undergraduate to own a

motor car after having traveled to paris

to buy a pujo feiten

at the age of 18

at the time this was extremely unusual

as most people hadn't even heard of cars

yet

after graduating in 1898 charles began

working on a steam yacht and then at the

london and northwestern railway

he was more interested in motoring

pioneering and salesmanship however and

with financial support from his father

he opened one of the first car

dealerships in britain in 1903. he named

the company cs roles and co and for the

next couple of years he dedicated

himself to importing and selling pujo

and minerva cars

business was booming and charles used

the money to fund his sporting

activities besides being an avid

motorist pioneer and racer he was also

an eager aviator and as you can guess

both of these hobbies are anything but

cheap

unfortunately for charles however his

lifelong passion would eventually cost

him more than just his money

when running his company fh royce and

company henry became increasingly

interested in motor cars

in 1901 he decided to improve a

second-hand two-cylinder decalville car

that he had bought but he wanted more

and so he decided to build a car on his

own

henry had an instinctive desire for

perfection and having found construction

faults in the dekauville he vowed to do

better by the end of 1903 he designed

and built his first petrol engine and by

the next year he drove his first royce

10 horsepower motor car into town

by now two decades had passed since

henry set up the company his first car

was a success and so he set out to

create another one and another

of the three cars that he had built he

gave one of his business partners ernest

claremont and the other he sold to one

of their shareholders henry edmonds

and it was this henry edmonds who would

eventually arrange the meeting

between rolls and royce

henry edmunds was a shareholder in

royce's company and a friend of roles

after having bought one of royce's cars

he began boasting to roles about it at

the time roles was frustrated with only

being able to sell foreign imports in

his company so edmunds arranged a

meeting

little did edmunds know that the meeting

would change the future of motoring

forever

while rolls had always preferred three

and four-cylinder cars royce's

two-cylinder vehicle made a big

impression on him within minutes of

seeing it he knew he had found what he

was looking for

he took the motor car for a drive

and agreed on the spot to sell as many

motor cars as royce could build

the two men made an unusual duo there

was not only a massive age gap but also

a class in education gap for starters

royce was 41 years old while roles was

only 26. the young roles had enjoyed a

fancy education at the prestigious

trinity college whereas royce's skills

were largely self-taught

and while roles had spent his young

adult years racing around in his fancy

cars royce had been working hard to make

ends meet would they be able to see eye

to eye

while henry royce and charles rolls were

two very different people they also made

a great duo and the massive success with

the cars led to the creation of the

rolls-royce company in 1906

then came the launch of the six-cylinder

silver ghost within a year it was hailed

as the best car in the world

impressive but for this they also had

charles's partner to thank

creating a brand requires vision

so while henry and charles were busy

building and selling motor cars it was

charles's partner claude johnson who

took on the role of managing director

he knew it was vital to expand the

company's reputation in the publicity

genius that he was

he orchestrated a series of stunts to

promote the quietness and reliability of

rolls-royce motor cars

one of his early adverts for the 40 to

50 horsepower motor car promoted it as

the six-cylinder rolls-royce

not one of the best but the best car in

the world

with that ad claude introduced the phase

that would forever be associated with

rolls-royce it was incredibly effective

it demonstrated rolls-royce's superior

performance and it created a global

demand for their world-class engineering

and claude was so integral to the

company's success that he became known

as the hyphen in rolls-royce

of course marketing alone will get you

only so far

and both henry and charles dedicated

themselves to delivering the best

quality possible

but it was especially henry who had a

knack for pushing himself to the limit

when it came to work

henry was renowned as a hard worker who

never ate properly

unfortunately these habits severely

affected his health but surprisingly he

would end up outliving his business

partner charles by a couple of decades

over the years daredevil charles's

interest in aviation kept growing he

even tried to persuade henry to develop

a design for an aero engine but henry

refused to continue living out his

aviation dreams charles bought a right

flyer aircraft with which he made over

200 flights

in 1910 he became the first person to

make a non-stop double flight across the

english channel

but just one month later everything

changed

during a flying display at bournemouth

charles was killed in an air crash he

was only 32 years old he became the

first briton to die in a plane crash and

his premature death meant the end of the

short-lived rolls-royce partnership

now henry would have to continue their

Legacy on his own henry had an innate work ethic and his

innovative designs established

rolls-royce's reputation for superior

engineering and quality

he uncompromisingly persuaded his basic

principle of establishing the best

design with both the finest materials

and the highest levels of craftsmanship

to put it in his own words

strive for perfection in everything you

do take the best that exists and make it

better when it does not exist design it

during the first world war the company

expanded into manufacturing something

charles had once requested aero engines

and during the next couple of decades

the company did extremely well

unfortunately henry kept struggling with

his health and in 1993 he succumbed to

digestive tract problems

his death had been brought on by his

early years of poor nutrition and a

lifetime of overwork he had spent much

of the last years of his life as a

semi-invalid but that didn't stop him

from working though

his never-failing enthusiasm and

dedication to engineering prevailed and

he continued to work until the very last

moment

literally his last sketch was made from

his deathbed a few hours before he died

he was 70 years old

rolls-royce has remained a famous name

in engineering

a rolls-royce is one of the most

successful luxury cars that money can

buy and with over 130 dealerships spread

over 40 countries the brand is known far

beyond great britain currently rolls

royce is owned by bmw and the brand is

still primarily known for producing some

of the most expensive cars in the world

such as the rolls-royce cullinan ghost

Phantom wraith and dawn

torsten muller otvos has been the ceo

since 2010

and his reign has proven to be essential

in the company's success but it's the

vision of sir henry royce and sir

charles rawls that truly made

rolls-royce what it is today

a symbol of pure and unadulterated

wealth something tells me the two men

would be proud had you already heard of

the many people involved in