Throwback Thursday – May 4, 1904 – Charles Rolls Meets Henry Royce, Rolls Royce Is Later Formed

May 4, 1904 – Rolls was introduced to Henry Royce by a friend at the Royal Automobile Club, Henry Edmunds, who was also a director of Royce Ltd.

Edmunds showed him Royce’s car and arranged the historic meeting between Rolls and Royce at the Midland Hotel, Manchester.

In spite of his preference for three or four cylinder cars, Rolls was impressed with the two-cylinder Royce 10 and in a subsequent agreement of 23 December 1904 agreed to take all the cars Royce could make.

These would be of two, three, four and six cylinders and would be badged as Rolls-Royces.

The first Rolls-Royce car, the Rolls-Royce 10 hp, was unveiled at the Paris Salon in December 1904, although in the early advertising it was the name of Rolls that was emphasised over that of Royce.

In 1906 Rolls and Royce formalised their partnership by creating Rolls-Royce Limited, with Rolls appointed Technical managing director on a salary of £750 per annum plus 4% of the profits in excess of £10,000. Rolls provided the financial backing and business acumen to complement Royce’s technical expertise.

In 1907 Rolls-Royce Limited bought out C. S. Rolls & Co.