Charles Stewart Rolls' lost his life in Bournemouth plane crash

Crowds gathered on July 12, 1910, for what was billed as The First International Aviation Meeting in the British Isles – a highlight of the Bournemouth centenary celebrations.

Spectators stared in wonder as the Hon Charles Stewart Rolls took part in a flying tournament in the skies above Southbourne.

Suddenly his plane began to break up and plunged to the ground.

He was aged 32.

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A promising life was brought to an abrupt end as Charles' achievements were, up until then, outstanding.

He was recognised as both an aviation and motoring pioneer, and his passion for vehicles of almost all forms knew no bounds.

Born in Berkley Square, London, he was the third son of the 1st Baron Llangattock – the ancestral home being near Monmouth, Wales.

But it was at Eton College where Charles gained an interest in engines, acquiring the nickname ‘Dirty Rolls’.

He studied mechanical and applied science at Cambridge and owned the first car in the city, his Peugeot Phaeton, bought at the age of 18.

Graduating in 1898, Charles began working on the steam yacht Santa Maria before taking up a position at the London and North Western Railway in Crewe.

But his one true passion was for motoring and so he started one of Britain’s first car dealerships, CS Rolls and Co, based in Fulham.

Thanks to £6,600 invested from his father, the company were able to import and sell French Peugeot and Belgian Minerva vehicles.

Charles was a founding member of the Auto-mobile Club of Great Britain and it was here that he was first introduced to Henry Royce by a friend, Henry Edmunds.

Although the two men differed in personality and skills, they complimented each other wonderfully.

Impressed with the two-cylinder Royce 10, Rolls agreed to take all the cars Royce could make. They were two, three, four and six cylinders and badged as Rolls-Royce.

The first Rolls-Royce car, the Rolls-Royce 10hp, was launched in December 1904.

In 1906 Rolls-Royce Limited became a formal partnership with Rolls as technical managing director. He drew an annual salary of £750 boosted by four per cent of the profits in excess of £10,000.

It didn't take long for their reputation to build and by 1907 the company was winning awards for the quality and reliability of its cars. It soon bought out CS Rolls and Co.

Charles travelled to the USA to promote the new cars, rightfully showing off the quietness and smoothness of the ride.

Although he was said to have been quite the salesman, his passion for flying and pushing new boundaries took over.

At first, he became a balloonist, making more than 170 ascents, and was a founder member of the Royal Aero Club in 1903. He won the Gordon Bennett Gold Medal for the longest single flight time that same year.

In 1907 he tried to get Royce to design an aero engine, but Royce was more interested in cars. Not to be deterred Rolls bought one of six Wright Flyer aircraft and made more than 200 flights, including the first nonstop double crossing of the English Channel on June 2, 1910, taking only 95 minutes.

To commemorate this feat, a statue now stands in the town square at Monmouth.

But Charles was the kind of man that couldn't keep still.

He negotiated a strictly private deal with Royce and the other directors which saw him retire from day-to-day work as the car firm’s technical managing director.

A few days later, he set off for Bournemouth by train because he’d been booked for speeding in Hyde Park.

He was on his way to the town’s centenary celebrations which featured musical concerts conducted by Sir Edward Elgar, masked balls, processions of Boy Scouts and an air show.

A new aerodrome had been created in the suburb of Southbourne. Hedges had been torn up, more than 40 allotments removed and a system of multi-coloured flags had been prepared for the displays of aerial daredevilry.

Large cash prizes were on offer.

It was very gusty, bad weather for the Wright biplane.

A French rival who had already flown and crashed warned Charles and advised him to delay but he refused and took off.

The plan was to engage in a circular flight, followed by a landing on a mark close to the judges’ tent.

Those watching thought he was coming in too high and reported a sickening snap as part of the aircraft came away; he plunged down and crashed.

He was thrown to one side of the wreckage and, at first, looked unscathed but he had been killed instantly.

Charles Rolls was a high achiever, an innovator and a pioneer.

Who knows what may have been had he lived longer?