John Etherington Welch Rolls (4 May 1807 – 27 May 1870) was a

High Sheriff of Monmouthshire This is a list of Sheriffs of Monmouthshire, an office which was created in 1536 but not fully settled until 1540. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, the shrievalty of Monmouthshire was abolished, and replac ...

, art collector, Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace. Rolls was President of, and co-founded the

Monmouth Show The Monmouthshire Show is the largest one-day agricultural show in Wales, taking place annually in Monmouth on the first Saturday in July. Origin The origin of the show dates back to the 1790s when Monmouth's agricultural society organised p ...

Life

Rolls was born in 1807, a son of

John Rolls John Rolls (27 February 1735 – 8 September 1801) was a native of Bermondsey, Southwark, London, Surrey, England. A member of the Rolls family of The Grange in Bermondsey and The Hendre, Monmouthshire, he married heiress Sarah Coysh. T ...

The Hendre The Hendre, ( cy, Yr Hendre a farmer's winter residence; literally meaning old home) in Rockfield, is the only full-scale Victorian country house in the county of Monmouthshire, Wales. The ancestral estate of the Rolls family, it was the child ...

, near

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

, by his wife Martha. On 26 May 1833 he married Elizabeth Long, daughter of Walter Long of Preshaw by his wife Mary Carnegie (1789–1875), eldest daughter of

William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk Admiral William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk (10 April 1756 – 28 May 1831) was a British naval officer who served during the American Revolutionary War, French Revolutionary War, and Napoleonic Wars. While in command of HMS ''Monmouth'' he ...

. Rolls served as

in 1842. Rolls and his wife had several children but only one son,

John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock John Allan Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, (19 February 1837 – 24 September 1912) was a Victorian landowner, Conservative Party politician, socialite, local benefactor and agriculturalist. He lived at The Hendre, a Victorian country house ...

. Rolls' brother Alexander Rolls married the actress

Helen Barry Helen Barry (born Elizabeth Short, 5 January 1840 – 20 July 1904) was an English actress. She began her acting career at age 32 after her first marriage dissolved. She performed leading roles in West End theatres in the 1870s in comedy, dram ...

Rolls was responsible for extending the size of

using the services of

Thomas Henry Wyatt Thomas Henry Wyatt (9 May 1807 – 5 August 1880) was an Anglo-Irish architect. He had a prolific and distinguished career, being elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects 1870–73 and being awarded its Royal Gold Medal for A ...

. His architect created a new open roofed entrance hall for the building and the south wing and the park were improved. In 1877 Wyatt was again employed to add rooms for billiards, dining and smoking, as well as a coach house to replace the demolished old stables. Arms Rolls ofHendre Monmouth

In 1863 Rolls' long service as a deputy was rewarded when he was made the

Provincial Grand Master Provincial Grand Master (abbreviated PGM or PrGM), sometimes called District Grand Master or Metropolitan Grand Master, is a fraternal office held by the head of a Provincial Grand Lodge, who is directly appointed by the organisation's Grand Master ...

of the

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

in Monmouthshire. Rolls collected art including sketches by

Henry Fuseli Henry Fuseli ( ; German: Johann Heinrich Füssli ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain. Many of his works, such as ''The Nightmare'', deal with supernatura ...

and illuminated manuscripts. Some of the sketches are now in the possession of

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

and others are in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. It was proposed that "a cattle show" should be created in Monmouth, and in 1857 the eighth Duke of Beaufort and Rolls each put money into a thirty-pound fund to start the Monmouth Cattle Show in October of the same year. Rolls was the greater financial contributor and he became President of the show until his death. This cattle show, still in existence, is now known as the

Monmouthshire Show The Monmouthshire Show is the largest one-day agricultural show in Wales, taking place annually in Monmouth on the first Saturday in July. Origin The origin of the show dates back to the 1790s when Monmouth's agricultural society organised p ...

. Rolls also served as the President of the charity that ran ''

The Dispensary ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' which provided out-patient and hospital care for the poor people of Monmouth. He gave £1,000 to fund a hospital bed in perpetuity at that establishment. Rolls' daughters, Elizabeth Harcourt, Patty, Anne Katherine and Ellen, all married well; Georgina Emily married Thomas Chester-Master who was a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MPDebretts House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1881
/ref> whilst Rolls' third daughter Mary Octavia Rolls did not marry. After a long illness, Rolls died in 1870, and at All Saints' Church in Llanfrechfa in Monmouthshire a medieval preaching cross was rebuilt in his memory by his daughter Elizabeth and her husband Frank Johnstone Mitchell. He was succeeded by his son

Family tree

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolls, John Etherington Welch British art collectors People from Monmouth, Wales 1807 births 1870 deaths Monmouth, Wales John Etherington Welch