John Allan Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, (19 February 1837 – 24 September 1912) was a Victorian landowner,

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician, socialite, local benefactor and agriculturalist. He lived at

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 ...

, a Victorian

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

north of

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 ...

Biography

He was the only son of

John Etherington Welch Rolls John Etherington Welch Rolls (4 May 1807 – 27 May 1870) was a High Sheriff of Monmouthshire, art collector, Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace. Rolls was President of, and co-founded the Monmouth Show. Life Rolls was born in 1807, a son ...

and his wife Elizabeth Mary Long. Elizabeth was a daughter of Walter Long of Preshaw and granddaughter 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 was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, later becoming Captain in the

Royal Gloucestershire Hussars The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was a volunteer yeomanry regiment which, in the 20th century, became part of the British Army Reserve. It traced its origins to the First or Cheltenham Troop of Gloucestershire Gentleman and Yeomanry raised in ...

Yeomanry Cavalry, and was afterwards appointed honorary colonel of the

1st Monmouthshire Artillery Volunteers The 1st Monmouthshire Artillery Volunteer Corps was a unit of Britain's Volunteer Force raised in 1860 from Monmouthshire in the Welsh borders. After transfer to the Territorial Force it served with the 53rd (Welsh) Division in Palestine in World ...

, later 4th Welsh Brigade

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

In 1868 he married Georgiana Marcia Maclean in London. She was the daughter of Sir Charles Fitzroy Maclean, 9th Baronet, of Morvaren (1798–1883). They lived at ''The Hendre'' and they also had a house ''South Lodge'' which was at Rutland Gate in London. They had four children: *

John Maclean Rolls John Maclean Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock (25 April 1870 – 31 October 1916) was a British barrister and army Major. Biography Rolls was son of John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, and his wife Georgiana Marcia Maclean. He was born in London, b ...

(1870–1916) 2nd

Baron Llangattock Baron Llangattock, "of the Hendre in the County of Monmouth", was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1892 for John Rolls, of The Hendre in the parish of Llangattock-Vibon-Avel, about 4 miles north-west of Monmouth, ...

; who died unmarried, killed in action. * Henry Alan Rolls (1871–1916) * Eleanor Georgiana Rolls (1872–1961) later the Hon. Lady Shelley-Rolls. She became a leading campaigner for women in engineering, a signatory of the foundation documents of the

Women's Engineering Society The Women's Engineering Society is a United Kingdom professional learned society and networking body for women engineers, scientists and technologists. It was the first professional body set up for women working in all areas of engineering, pred ...

, co-founded Atlanta Co Ltd. and worked on campaigns towards the electrification of Britain. She married on 23 April 1898 Sir John Courtown Edward Shelley, later Shelley-Rolls, 6th Baronet, of

Castle Goring Castle Goring is a Grade I listed country house in Worthing, in West Sussex, England about northwest of the town centre. One of Worthing's two Grade I listed buildings (deemed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to be of exc ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

(5 August 1871 – 18 February 1951) and great-nephew of the poet

Percy Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...

. In 1917, her husband assumed by Royal Licence the additional surname of Rolls in compliance with the will of his father-in-law, the late Lord Llangattock. However, there were no children of the marriage, and

eventually passed out of the hands of the Rolls family in the 1980s, having passed through the Harding-Rolls line of the family. *

Charles Stewart Rolls Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with ...

(1877–1910) of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

fame and the first British aircraft fatality. Rolls was appointed

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 ...

in 1875, and served as MP for

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

from 1880 to 1885. In 1892 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Llangattock, of The Hendre in the County of Monmouth. He served as

Mayor of Monmouth The Mayor of Monmouth is an elected position given to a town councillor in Monmouth in Wales. The position dates back about 750 years. History The position of Mayor in Monmouth was established in the thirteenth century by the people who were ...

1896 - 1897, and his gifts to that town included a large public hall, a gymnasium, and an isolation hospital. In April 1901 he received the Honorary Freedom of the Borough of

'in recognition of his many benefactions to the town'. He was also a magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant of that county. He was a Freemason, rising to the position of Provincial Grand Master in 1894. The Masonic Llangattock Lodge (No.2547) was created in his honour in 1895 and took the Rolls motto, ' (Speed and Truth). He was a breeder of

Shire horse The Shire is a British breed of draught horse. It is usually black, bay, or grey. It is a tall breed, and Shires have at various times held world records both for the largest horse and for the tallest horse. The Shire has a great capacity for ...

s and acquired a reputation amongst agriculturalists for his

shorthorn The Shorthorn breed of cattle originated in the North East of England in the late eighteenth century. The breed was developed as dual-purpose, suitable for both dairy and beef production; however, certain blood lines within the breed always emp ...

and Hereford cattle and

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

breeds of sheep. He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and restored several Monmouthshire churches at his own expense. Lord Llangattock was a prominent member of the Anti-Vivisection Society, a position that caused some controversy as illustrated by a letter of 18 May 1901 published in the Journal of the British Medical Association:

SIR,-I see that Lord Llangattock, who presided at the annual meeting of the Antivivisection Society on 9 May, gave credence to 'the horrible stories of what takes place in the laboratories of physiology,' denounced vivisection as 'misleading, immoral, and degrading,' and professed 'a sentiment for animals.' Now, I recollect reading in the newspapers last autumn a description of a battue on a large scale, given by Lord Llangattock at his place in Wales, at which a phenomenal number of pheasants were shot for the recreation of Lord Llangattock and his friends, and I should like him to study this little picture of his own dealings with animals, for which he has 'a sentiment' drawn not by a vivisector, but by a man who is a keen and trustworthy observer, and who is in genuine sympathy with all senitient beings.Journal of the BMA: Correspondence: 9 May 1901

Lord Llangattock's elevation to the peerage confirmed his elevation to the top rank of society. In late October - early November 1900 the Duke and Duchess of York (later

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...

and Queen Mary) stayed with Rolls at the Hendre. Lord Llangattock died on 24 September 1912. He was succeeded by his eldest son,

John Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock John Maclean Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock (25 April 1870 – 31 October 1916) was a British barrister and Major (UK), army Major. Biography Rolls was son of John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, and his wife Georgiana Marcia Maclean. He was born in ...

, who died of wounds received at the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

in 1916.

Family tree

Gallery

File:Lady Llangattock mw59170.jpg,

Lady Llangattock Georgiana, Lady Llangattock, (28 February 1837 (baptised) – 1 April 1923), born Georgiana Marcia Maclean and after her marriage termed Georgiana Marcia Rolls, was a socialite, benefactor and an enthusiast for Horatio Nelson and associated na ...

at the Coronation File:Panhard & Levassor autocar, C S Rolls driver and George V.jpg, The Duke of York, Lord and Lady Llangattock, Sir Charles Cust and C.S. Rolls at 'The Hendre', 1900

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rolls, John 1st Baron Llangattock Llangattock, John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, John Rolls, 1st Baron People educated at Eton College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Royal Gloucestershire Hussars officers Anti-vivisectionists Llangattock, John Rolls, 1st Baron UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs who were granted peerages Deputy Lieutenants of Monmouthshire High Sheriffs of Monmouthshire Mayors of Monmouth Conservative Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria