Rolls-Royce returns to roots for centenary

Rolls-Royce is 100 years old this week and the centenary will be marked at the very spot where the company was founded.

On May 4, 1904, Charles Rolls met Henry Royce at the Midland Hotel in Manchester and the two men then formed the world-famous company.

On Tuesday, a media reception will be held at the Midland where examples of the company’s glorious car and aero engine history will be on display.

Attending the Manchester event will be former Rolls-Royce chairman Ralph Robins, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars chief executive Tony Gott and other Rolls’ personnel.

Outside the hotel a Rolls-Royce Phantom car, a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost car and a Rolls-Royce aero engine will be on display.

Tuesday will also see the planting of four trees on the company’s original factory site in Hulme, Manchester. Among those at the ceremony will be Dr Michael Pritchard, the great-grandson of Henry Edmunds who introduced Rolls to Royce.

Weather permitting, there will also be an aerial salute to the company by an Avro Lancaster aircraft.

A number of Rolls-Royce cars are currently taking part in a centenary world tour which will reach Manchester on Tuesday.

Charles Rolls, an aristocrat, was a car and plane enthusiast who was to die at the age of only 32 when he crashed while taking part in an airshow in Bournemouth.

Henry Royce, from a much poorer family, became one of the world’s great engineers and died aged 70 in 1933.

The empire the two men created later split into separate companies – one dealing just with cars and the other concentrating on aero engine, industrial and marine work.

While producing some of the great cars in motoring history, Rolls-Royce has also provided the power for numerous aircraft including Concorde.

The car side of the business is now owned by German motoring giant BMW.