John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock
Encyclopedia
John Allan Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, DL
(19 February 1837 – 24 September 1912) owned The Hendre
, a Victorian
mansion
north of Monmouth
.
and granddaughter of William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk
.
Rolls was educated at Eton College
and Christ Church, Oxford
, later becoming Captain in the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars
Yeomanry Cavalry, and was afterwards appointed honorary colonel of the 4th Welsh Brigade R.F.A.
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 had four children:
He served as MP
for Monmouthshire
from 1880-1885, and was raised to the peerage in 1892. He was appointed High Sheriff of Monmouthshire
in 1875 and served as Mayor of Monmouth 1896 - 1897. 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, Celerias et Veritas (Speed and Truth).
He was a breeder of Shire horse
s and acquired a reputation amongst agriculturalists for his shorthorn
and Hereford cattle and Shropshire
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 May 9th, 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.
and Queen Mary
) stayed with Lord and Lady Llangattock at the Hendre in late October - early November 1900. The Duke and Duchess were taken on motor car excursions by their son Charles, probably the first time that the royal couple had been in a car. The Rolls family had become more and more successful during the nineteenth century, and their wealth was based on land and property in south London as well as their Monmouthshire estates. The royal visit was an important event for them; it confirmed their elevation to the top level of society locally.
All three of Lord Llangattock's sons died unmarried and the barony became extinct at the death of his son the 2nd Baron, who died of wounds received at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
(19 February 1837 – 24 September 1912) owned The Hendre
The Hendre
The Hendre is Monmouthshire's only full-scale Victorian country house, constructed in the Victorian Gothic style...
, a Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
north of Monmouth
Monmouth
Monmouth is a town in southeast Wales and traditional county town of the historic county of Monmouthshire. It is situated close to the border with England, where the River Monnow meets the River Wye with bridges over both....
.
Biography
He was the only son of John Etherington Welch Rolls and his wife Elizabeth Mary Long. Elizabeth was a daughter of Walter Long of PreshawWalter Long of Preshaw
Walter Long of Preshaw House, Hampshire, JP, DL was an English landowner.Descended from the Long family of Wiltshire, he was born at Corhampton, Hampshire, the only son of John Long and Ellen Hippesley Trenchard. He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford where he gained a BA in 1809, and MA in...
and granddaughter of William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk
William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk
Admiral William Carnegie GCB, 7th Earl of Northesk was born in Hampshire to Admiral George Carnegie, 6th Earl of Northesk and Anne Melville.-Naval career:...
.
Rolls was educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, later becoming Captain in the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars
Royal Gloucestershire Hussars
The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was a unit of the British Army.Raised in 1795 following William Pitt's 1794 order to raise volunteer bodies of men to defend Great Britain, through various re-organisations, the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars remain today on the establishment of the Territorial...
Yeomanry Cavalry, and was afterwards appointed honorary colonel of the 4th Welsh Brigade R.F.A.
Royal Field Artillery
The Royal Field Artillery of the British Army provided artillery support for the British Army. It came into being when the Royal Artillery was divided on 1 July 1899, it was reamalgamated back into the Royal Artillery in 1924....
In 1868 he married Georgiana Marcia Maclean in London. She was the daughter of Sir Charles Fitzroy Maclean
Maclean Baronets
There have been two Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Maclean, one in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom...
, 9th Baronet of Morvaren (1798-1883). They had four children:
- The Hon. John Maclean Rolls (1870-1916) 2nd Baron LlangattockBaron LlangattockBaron 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, Member of Parliament for Monmouthshire from 1880 to 1892. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Baron. He was killed in action at the Battle...
; who died unmarried, killed in action. - The Hon. Henry Alan Rolls (1871-1916)
- The Hon. Eleanor Georgiana Rolls (1872-1961) later the Hon. Lady Shelley-Rolls; she married on 23 April 1898 Sir John Courtown Edward Shelley, later Shelley-RollsShelley BaronetsThere have been three Baronetcies created for members of the Shelley family, one in the Baronetage of England and two in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. The three recipients of the titles represented two different branches of the family with a common ancestor in John Shelley of Michelgrove...
, 6th Baronet, of Castle GoringCastle GoringCastle Goring is a grade one listed country house in Worthing, in Sussex, England.The building to some extent defies categorisation, being neither fully a castle, nor is it fully in Goring. The word is often used for English country houses constructed after the castle-building era and not...
, SussexSussexSussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
(5 August 1871 – 18 February 1951) and great-nephew of the poet Percy Shelley). 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 The HendreThe HendreThe Hendre is Monmouthshire's only full-scale Victorian country house, constructed in the Victorian Gothic style...
eventually passed out of the hands of the Rolls family in the 1980s, having passed through the Harding-Rolls line of the family. - The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls (1877-1910) of Rolls RoyceRolls-Royce LimitedRolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....
fame and the first British aircraft fatality.
He served as MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Monmouthshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of Parliament of England from 1536 until 1707, of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1801, and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885...
from 1880-1885, and was raised to the peerage in 1892. He was appointed High Sheriff of Monmouthshire
High Sheriff of Monmouthshire
This is a list of High Sheriffs of Monmouthshire, which was created in 1536 but not fully settled until 1540. The shrievalty was finally abolished in 1974 when the county and shrievalty of Gwent was created.-List of Sheriffs:Served under Henry VIII:...
in 1875 and served as Mayor of Monmouth 1896 - 1897. He was also a magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
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, Celerias et Veritas (Speed and Truth).
He was a breeder of Shire horse
Shire horse
The Shire horse is a breed of draught horse or draft horse . The breed comes in many colours, including black, bay and grey. They are a tall breed, with mares standing and over and stallions standing and over. The breed has an enormous capacity for weight pulling, and Shires have held the world...
s and acquired a reputation amongst agriculturalists for his shorthorn
Shorthorn
The Shorthorn breed of cattle originated in the North East of England in the late 18th century. The breed was developed as dual purpose, suitable for both dairy and beef production; however there were always certain blood lines within the breed which emphasised one quality or the other...
and Hereford cattle and Shropshire
Shropshire (sheep)
The Shropshire breed of domestic sheep originated from the hills of Shropshire, and North Staffordshire, England, during the 1840s. The breeders in the area used the local horned black-faced sheep and crossed them with a few breeds of white-faced sheep . This produced a medium-sized polled sheep...
breeds of sheep. He was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
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 May 9th, 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.
Royal visitors
The Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VGeorge V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
) stayed with Lord and Lady Llangattock at the Hendre in late October - early November 1900. The Duke and Duchess were taken on motor car excursions by their son Charles, probably the first time that the royal couple had been in a car. The Rolls family had become more and more successful during the nineteenth century, and their wealth was based on land and property in south London as well as their Monmouthshire estates. The royal visit was an important event for them; it confirmed their elevation to the top level of society locally.
All three of Lord Llangattock's sons died unmarried and the barony became extinct at the death of his son the 2nd Baron, who died of wounds received at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.