Sir Frederick Henry Royce, 1st Baronet (; 27 March 1863 – 22 April 1933) was an English engineer famous for his designs of car and aeroplane engines that had a reputation for reliability and longevity. He and his two business associates Charles Rolls (1877–1910) and Claude Johnson (1864–1926) together founded the Rolls-Royce Limited company in 1904.

Rolls-Royce Limited initially focused on large, 40–50 horsepower motor cars, the Silver Ghost and its successors. Royce produced his first aero engine shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, and aircraft engines became Rolls-Royce's principal product.

Royce's health broke down in 1911, and he was persuaded to leave his factory in the Midlands at Derby and, taking a team of designers, move to the south of England spending winters in the south of France. He died at his home in Sussex in the spring of 1933.

Early life

Royce was born in Alwalton, Huntingdonshire, near Peterborough on 27 March 1863 to Mary (née King) and James Royce. He had four older siblings, Emily (born in 1853), Fanny Elizabeth (born in 1854), Mary Anne (born in 1856) and James Allen (born in 1857). His father James started as a farmer before upon in 1852, his marriage to Mary, the daughter of a farmer, he acquired the lease of a flour mill at Castor in Northamptonshire. The under-capitalised company was involved in lighting streets and theatres. Despite winning a major contract with the Liverpool City Council the company was forced into liquidation on 24 March 1884. It has been speculated that he chose Manchester because of lower costs than Liverpool or London. In 1884 he established F. H. Royce and Company, operating from a workshop in Blake Street, Hulme, manufacturing small electrical and mechanical items. Within the first six months a friend called Ernest Alexander Claremont (18634 April 1922) had entered into partnership with Royce, contributing £50 that he appears to have borrowed from his father. Following his marriage Royce and his wife moved into a semi-detached house called “Easthourne” at 2 Holland Park Road.

The continued increase in the company’s fortunes lead Royce and Claremont to consider an expansion of the company in preparation for which in March 1894 they had a valuation performed which calculated it had assets worth £2,721 18s 4d. Named “Brae Cottage”, it was one of the first houses to have electricity in the area, which was sourced from a generator in a small building in the garden. Besides music (in particular Gilbert and Sullivan), Royce’s favourite form of relaxation was gardening, but as he worked long hours he installed floodlights of his own design to allow him to do his gardening in the evening.

Unfortunately, Royce’s plans for ongoing commercial growth were by curtailed by a recession after the Second Boer War in the European electrical industry. The resulting contraction in their home market caused German manufacturers to sharply lower the prices of their products on the United Kingdom market. into the United Kingdom market also impacted on Royce Ltd’s profitability. Claremont continued as its chairman until his death, upon which he was succeeded by his brother Albert Claremont.

Although a respected crane-making business, whose products had a reputation for reliability and longevity and were exported around the world, They moved the factory to Loughborough and continued manufacturing Royce branded cranes, still to Royce designs, until 16 November 1964.

Begins manufacturing automobiles

It is not known whether it was upon his own initiative or it was the efforts of Claremont and the consulting doctor to get Royce out in the fresh air, but either prior to his South African holiday or upon his return a better motorcar than the rather basic De Dion-Bouton was purchased by Royce. It is known that by around September 1902 Royce had in his library The Automobile: Its Construction and Management by Gérard Lavergne, indicating an interest in the subject of motorcars. Using detailed notes and drawings he had made of every component on the Decauville Royce refined everything to create three new cars all bearing the nameplate "Royce". They featured a two-cylinder 10 hp engine, three speed gearbox, a differential rather than a chain drive, a more effective radiator, improved exhaust system, improved electrics and improved carburation based on the Krebs system and a larger water tank.]]

thumb|Engine and gearbox of Royce's second car, now in [[Museum of Science and Industry (Manchester)|MOSI, Manchester]]

The third Royce car had been sold to one of the other directors, Henry Edmunds. As the new three-cylinder 15 hp engine was not ready the chassis was incomplete. The 10 hp was similar to the earlier Royce car, but with further design and mechanical improvements. In 1905, Royce designed a V-8. Only three were produced, of which one was sold before later being taken back by the company.

In 1906 Rolls and Royce formalised their partnership by creating Rolls-Royce Limited, which was registered on 15 March 1906 with capital of £60,000. Royce was appointed chief engineer and works director on a salary of £1,250 per annum plus 4% of the profits in excess of £10,000. In comparison, Rolls received £750 per annum and 4% of the profits. Royce thus provided the technical expertise to complement Rolls' financial backing and business acumen.

To increase the company’s capital to £200,000 it was floated on the Birmingham Stock Exchange on 11 December 1906, with £100,000 of shares made available to the public to acquire the business of C.S. Rolls & Co. The following Monday he grabbed a sledge hammer upon arriving at the factory and used it to attack the new six-cylinder engine blocks, shouting that they had to start again.

thumb|Outside Quarndon House, Royce's blue plaque

Upon relocation to Derby in 1908 Royce rented a property on tis outskirts from 1908-1911 called “The Knoll” in the village of Quarndon. Located on the Common it has since been re-named Quarndon House. In September 1907 Royce fell sick and was forced to miss a number of directors meeting. He was well enough by 9 July 1908 to attend the official opening of the Derby factory.

Claude Johnson immediately arranged for Royce to be taken south to be examined by the best doctors in London. It is believed that they diagnosed him as having bowel cancer and undertook a major operation. Claremont, like Royce, also suffered from issues with his digestive system, which he attributed to the pair in their early days in business cooking their food in their workshops enamelling oven. After the operation, they gave Royce three months to live. Johnson thought they were being too pessimistic, as Royce soon indicated signs he was recovering. Royce was taken to the small village of Overstrand near Cromer in Norfolk to provide him with as much peace and quiet as possible. With it obvious that Royce’s wife was incapable of looking after him, Johnson hired a nurse, Ethel "Auby" Aubin. Once it became apparent to the doctors that Royce was making a remarkable recovery, they advised that should be taken to a warmer climate. Eric Platford was made responsible for quality control. With the company in the hands of people he could trust, Johnson travelled to Tours in France he met up with Royce and Aubin who had travelled there via London and Dover. In the spring, they returned to the Cote d’Azur and took up residence in Johnson’s house “Villa Jaune’ on top of a hill in the village of Le Canadel. Royce fell in love with the view and after expressing a desire to live here, Johnson purchased land below his own property for Royce.

With Royce invigorated by the experience, Johnson decided that the best way forward was to keep Royce away from the stressful factory environment at Derby, where he wouldn’t have been able to keep himself from getting involved in every detail. In this way, he could utilize Royce’s design talents for as long as possible. Johnson and Royce agreed in a devolved arrangement where Royce would spend the winter in Le Canadel and the summer in a quiet location in the south of England. In both locations he would have a small personal design team to translate his design ideas into a form that could then be converted into formal production drawings at the main drawing office in Derby. As a result Johnson commissioned the construction of another house below “La Villa Mimosa” for Royce’s design team. In the early summer of 1912 while Johnson resumed his duties in Derby, Royce returned to England and took up residence at Westwood near Crowborough in East Sussex. This was a major commitment for both Royce given his health and he signalled his seriousness by reducing his salary as his contribution to the war effort.

Rolls-Royce had a Daimler-Mercedes DF80 7½-litre water-cooled engine in their procession at Derby and for the first time since 1911 Royce travelled to Derby on 9 August 1914 to inspect it as he considered how to proceed with the design of the Eagle. He was allowed only an hour with the engine, which he somehow managed to extend by another hour before Aubin insisted he stop.

The Eagle proved to be one of only two aero engines made by the Allies that was neither a production nor a technical failure.

Using the experience gained with the Eagle Royce oversaw the development of three further engines. The Falcon (which was designed by Robert Harvey-Bailey), the Hawk and the Condor.

As Royce felt he needed a more economical car for his personal use during the war and admired the designs of Ettore Bugatti, Royce had Arthur Elliot, who was a member of his design team go to London and purchase on his behalf a small second-hand Bugatti. It ran badly and caught fire on the trip while departing the city. Despite this it was bought back to St Margaret’s Bay, where Royce tuned it to his satisfaction and used it for the rest of the war.

Moves to West Wittering

As the situation at St Margaret’s Bay deteriorated due to food and household materials, regular security scares due to the military camps in the area and bombardment of nearby Dover by German warships Royce decided in late 1917 to find a better location. Accompanied by Aubin and a list of available properties Royce went hunting in his personal Silver Ghost along the South coast. Eventually the pair decided on a property called “Elm Tree Farm” in the rural village of West Wittering, which had no electricity and was approximately 8 miles from Chichester. The night before he died he sat up in bed and drew a sketch on the back of an envelope which he gave to his nurse Ethel Aubin telling her to see that the "boys" in the factory got it safely. He died before it reached Derby. This was the adjustable shock-absorber.

Personal life

thumb|200px|Royce's blue plaque in [[Quarndon, Derbyshire]]

Royce was notorious for working long hours and poor eating habits. To ensure he ingest something company secretary John De Looze had boys regularly take him glasses of milk, with instructions not to return until they had seen Royce drink it.

Following his serious illness in 1911 his nurse Ethel Aubin took increasing control of Royce’s private life. He also left his wife two-fifths of his estate in trust. His cremated remains were initially buried under his statue at the Rolls-Royce works in Derby, but in 1937 his urn was removed to the parish church of Alwalton, his birthplace.

In 1935 Aubin married Tildesley, though the couple had separated by 1937. and was created a baronet, of Seaton in the County of Rutland, in 1930 for his services to British Aviation. As he had no children, the baronetcy became extinct on his death.

Memorials

In 1962, a memorial window dedicated to his memory was unveiled in Westminster Abbey. The window is one of a series designed by Ninian Comper dedicated to the memory of eminent engineers. He is also commemorated in Royce Hall, student accommodation at Loughborough University, and until 2011 at one of Peterborough's Queensgate shopping centre car parks. The Sir Henry Royce Suite, a business suite, is named after him at the Peterborough Marriott Hotel in the Alwalton business park.

The Henry Royce Institute, the United Kingdom’s national institute for advanced materials research and innovation with its headquarters in Manchester, is named after him.

Cultural depictions

Michael Jayston portrayed Royce in the 1972–1973 BBC Television miniseries The Edwardians.

References

Bibliography

  • (1st edition 1964)
  • The Sir Henry Royce Foundation, Australia
  • (RT 11:16) Part 1 (of 3) of a video containing a visit to Royce's grave
  • "Sir Henry Royce, Bart." a 1956 Flight article