Rolls was son of
John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, and his wife Georgiana Marcia Maclean. He was born in
London, but his family home,
The Hendre, was near
Monmouth. When Rolls reached the age of 21 his family gave the town a building to use as a gymnasium. Rolls was educated at
Christ Church, Oxford, graduating
B.A. in 1893 and
M.A in 1896. He was a
barrister of the
Inner Temple, London, and served for many years with the 1st Monmouth Volunteer Artillery, retiring with the rank of captain and honorary major. In January 1915 he joined the
Royal Field Artillery. In 1900 he was
High Sheriff of Monmouthshire, and
Mayor in 1906–07. He was also a
JP and
deputy lieutenant and county councillor for Monmouthshire. He died on 31 October 1916, aged 46, from wounds received at the
Battle of the Somme while serving as a major with the 1st Monmouthshire Bty
Royal Field Artillery. He is buried at
Boulogne Eastern Cemetery in France. He never married; his younger brother Henry Allan Rolls, who was
heir presumptive, had died four months previously, and his youngest brother,
Charles Rolls of
Rolls-Royce fame, had died 6 years earlier; thus the title became extinct. Baron Llangattock's estate was valued at more than £1.1 million. His sister
Eleanor Shelley-Rolls was the main beneficiary, and he bequeathed £100,000 to the
Archdeaconry of Monmouth. Upon his death
The Hendre estate passed first to his sister, Eleanor (who died without issue), and finally through his aunt, Patricia Harding (née Rolls), to his first cousin, John Reginald Harding, whose descendants bear the surname Harding-Rolls. ==Family tree==