When Rolls Met Royce

On 4th May 1904, Frederick Henry Royce, who owned an electrical and mechanical business, met Charles Stewart Rolls, who ran a car company in London.

Rolls and Royce met at the Midland Hotel in Manchester to discuss a proposed partnership. Royce had just built his first motor car and the pair reached an agreement over lunch to manufacture vehicles to be sold under the name Rolls-Royce.

The first Rolls-Royce car, the 10hp, was unveiled at the Paris Salon in December 1904.

Two years later saw the formation of the Rolls-Royce Company. After considering sites in Manchester, Coventry, Bradford and Leicester, Derby's council offered the company cheap electricity on a site on the southern edge of the city and the rest, as they say, is history…