The Rolls family were substantial landowners and benefactors in and around

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. ...

in south-east

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The ascent of the family to the aristocracy was through marriage. A prominent member of the family was

Charles Stewart Rolls Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with ...

, who co-founded the

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

car manufacturing company. The family's arms were described in 1852 as:

Quarterly: 1st and 4th, or, on a fesse, dancettée, with plain cotises between three billets, sa., each charged with a lion, rampant, of the field, as many bezants; 2nd, gu., an eagle, displayed, barry of six, erminois and az.; 3rd, or, a saltier, sa., in chief, a leopard's face, of the second.

John Rolls and "The Hendre"

The Rolls family of Monmouth derive from

John Rolls John Rolls (27 February 1735 – 8 September 1801) was a native of Bermondsey, Southwark, London, Surrey, England. A member of the Rolls family of The Grange in Bermondsey and The Hendre, Monmouthshire, he married heiress Sarah Coysh. That m ...

(1735–1801), son of Aaron and Elizabeth Rolls, the Grange,

Bermondsey Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham ...

, and of the Hendre, Monmouthshire,

High Sheriff of Monmouthshire This is a list of Sheriffs of Monmouthshire, an office which was created in 1536 but not fully settled until 1540. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, the shrievalty of Monmouthshire was abolished, and replac ...

in 1794. Much of his property in both Monmouthshire and London came through his marriage to

Sarah Coysh Sarah Coysh (c. 1742 – 1801) was the heiress to the estates of the Coysh, Allen, and James families. Her marriage to John Rolls (1735–1801) illustrates one of the methods by which the renowned Rolls family of Monmouthshire, Wales, and Lon ...

(d. 1801), heiress of her brother Richard. John Rolls died the day after his wife. John was succeeded by his son

(1776–1837) who, with his wife Martha, built the finest country estate in Monmouthshire: The Hendre ( cy, Yr Hendre). It was a shooting lodge that was expanded throughout the next one hundred years. It is Monmouthshire's only full-scale Victorian

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peop ...

, constructed in the

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. It is located in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

of Llangattock-Vibon-Avel, some north-west of the town of Monmouth. The first of three expansions by the Rolls family began with the architect

George Vaughan Maddox George Vaughan Maddox (1802–27 February 1864) was a nineteenth-century British architect and builder, whose work was undertaken principally in the town of Monmouth, Wales, and in the wider county. Working mainly in a Neo-Classical style, his ...

who rebuilt parts of the south wing in 1830. John Rolls' successor, John Etherington Welch Rolls, continued the mansion's development, using

Thomas Henry Wyatt Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 – 5 August 1880) was an Anglo-Irish architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1870–73 and being awarded its Royal Gold Medal for ...

as his architect.

John Etherington Welch Rolls

John was succeeded by his son John Etherington Welch Rolls (4 May 1807 – 27 May 1870),

sheriff of Monmouthshire This is a list of Sheriffs of Monmouthshire, an office which was created in 1536 but not fully settled until 1540. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, the shrievalty of Monmouthshire was abolished, and replaced ...

. In 1842 he married Elizabeth Mary Long, granddaughter of

William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk Admiral William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk (10 April 1756 – 28 May 1831) was a British naval officer who served during the American Revolutionary War, French Revolutionary War, and Napoleonic Wars. While in command of HMS ''Monmouth'' he ...

. He was succeeded by his son, also named John.

John Allan Rolls

Monmouth Library First Baron Llangattock

John Allan Rolls (19 February 1837 – 24 September 1912), sheriff in 1875 and MP for Monmouthshire, 1880–1885, created

Baron Llangattock Baron Llangattock, "of the Hendre in the County of Monmouth", was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1892 for John Rolls, of The Hendre in the parish of Llangattock-Vibon-Avel, about 4 miles north-west of Monmouth, ...

of the Hendre, 1892. John Allan Rolls's ennoblement brought the family, and the house, to its social apogee, culminating in a visit from the Duke and Duchess of York (later

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

and Queen Mary), who stayed with Lord and

Lady Llangattock Georgiana, Lady Llangattock, (28 February 1837 (baptised) – 1 April 1923), born Georgiana Marcia Maclean and after her marriage termed Georgiana Marcia Rolls, was a socialite, benefactor and an enthusiast for Horatio Nelson and associated na ...

at the Hendre in late October – early November 1900. The Duke and Duchess were taken on motor car excursions by

Charles Rolls Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident wit ...

, probably the first time that the royal couple had been in a car. This was an important event in the family's social history, confirming their elevation to the upper echelons of society. Of John Allan's three sons, the most famous was Charles, the co-founder of Rolls-Royce.

Charles Rolls

Panhard & Levassor autocar, C S Rolls driver and George V

(27 August 1877 - 12 July 1910) was a motoring and aviation pioneer. Together with Frederick Henry Royce he co-founded the

car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in a flying accident, when the tail of his

Wright Flyer The ''Wright Flyer'' (also known as the ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Flyer'' I or the 1903 ''Flyer'') made the first sustained flight by a manned heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft—an airplane—on December 17, 1903. Invented and flown b ...

broke off during a flying display near

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

, England. He was aged 32. As well as his interests in cars and aeroplanes, Charles was a keen balloonist, the Flight Magazine of January 1909 recording a flight from Monmouth:

''Ballooning Home''. On Saturday last the Hon. C. S. Rolls gave an exhibition of the possibilities of ballooning by taking his mother, Lady Llangattock, home by balloon. The ascent was made at Monmouth in the balloon " Mercury," the occupants of the basket being Lady Llangattock, Hon. C. S. Rolls, Hon. Mrs. Assheton – Harbord, Mr. Claud Crompton, and Mr. Charles Freeman, and the balloon landed on the lawn in front of Lord Llangattock's house, The Hendre.

In July 1910, Charles Rolls was killed when his plane crashed during a flight display at Bournemouth, the first Englishman to be killed in a flying accident.

John Maclean Rolls

Lord Llangattock died in 1912. His heir was his first son

John Maclean Rolls John Maclean Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock (25 April 1870 – 31 October 1916) was a British barrister and army Major. Biography Rolls was son of John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, and his wife Georgiana Marcia Maclean. He was born in London, b ...

(1870–1916, dsp.), 2nd Baron Llangattock. He died at Boulogne in 1916 from wounds received at the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place be ...

. With his younger brother, Henry Alan, having died four months previously, and none of Lord Llangattock's three sons having had children, the direct male line ended. John Maclean Rolls was succeeded by his sister Eleanor Georgiana (d. 1961), wife of John Courtown Edward Shelley. Gwent County Records Office: Reference code(s): GB 0218 ROLLS D361

Harding-Rolls

With the death of Charles Rolls, Henry Allen Rolls and John Maclean Rolls and the extinction of the barony and surname in the male line, the estate passed back up the family through the closest member of the family with surviving descendants, Patty Rolls, sister of John Allan Rolls. She had married John Taylor Harding of Pentwyn, vicar of Rockfield and Canon of Llandaff, son of John Harding of Henbury and Jane Morgan, and they had four children (John Reginald Harding, Charles Allan Harding, Francis Henry Harding and George Valentine Harding). John Reginald Harding in turn married Elizabeth Margaret Saunders (daughter of Captain John Saunders of

Fuzhou Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute ...

, China) and had five children. Upon the extinction of the Rolls branch, the estate came down to his son, John Charles Etherington Harding (born 1898,

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong' ...

), the first cousin once removed of the 2nd Baron Llangattock, who inherited the house, estate and surrounding farmland, changing his family name to Harding-Rolls for this purpose. Hendre 1983

The Harding-Rolls branch of the family continued to live at The Hendre until 30 August 1984 when, following a failed

time-share A timeshare (sometimes called vacation ownership) is a property with a divided form of ownership or use rights. These properties are typically resort condominium units, in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each owner ...

operation, it was sold to Effold Properties Limited. The mansion is now the focal point of the Rolls of Monmouth golf course.

The Rolls family tree

Notes

References

* * Joseph Alfred Bradney, "A History of Monmouthshire, Part I. The Hundred of Skenfrith." (1904) Mitchell Hughes and Clarke

External links

The Rolls of Monmouth Golf Club

Welsh Historic Gardens Trust

Charles Rolls with the Duke and Duchess of York

Gwent Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolls family History of Monmouthshire Welsh families