His first car was a Decauville. It was faulty, so he decided to manufacture his own cars, known as Royce - only three were made (none preserved). Charles Rolls saw one of them and they joined forces to make the Rolls Royce.
On his death, as a sign of mourning, the company permanently changed the colour of the "RR" lettering on the Rolls-Royce badge from red to black.
External links
The Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (http://www.henry-royce.org)
The Sir Henry Royce Foundation, Australia (http://www.royce.org.au)
Sir HenryRoyce, Bart., O.B.E. FrederickHenryRoyce was born on 27th March, 1863, in the village of Alwalton in Northamptonshire, near Peterborough, the son of a miller and the youngest of five children.
HenryRoyce bought a house at Knutsford near Manchester, where he had a beautiful garden, the cultivation of which soon became his hobby and relaxation, To this house he brought his mother who had been keeping herself by working as a housekeeper, and there she lived until her death in 1904.
Henry Edmunds (mentioned earlier) was a friend of Rolls and Claude Johnson and he knew that the former was searching for a British-made car that was, at least, as good as the French ones he was selling because he believed them to be the best available at the time.