C S Rolls sitting at his desk talking on the telephone, c 1900

C S Rolls sitting at his desk talking on the telephone, c 1900. Photograph taken from an album of prints compiled by English motorist, motor car manufacturer and aviator Charles Stewart Rolls (1877-1910). Rolls was a keen driver and was well known in the motoring world, having taken part in many races of the time. After gaining a BA and an MA in engineering at Cambridge, Rolls established a successful business assembling and selling imported French cars from showrooms in London. He went on to found Rolls-Royce Ltd with Frederick Henry Royce (1863-1933) in 1906, creating one of the world's most famous marques. Rolls was also the first to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane, but in 1910 he was killed when his aeroplane crashed at the Bournemouth Air Show. Photographie. ©SSPL/Science Museum