{{original research|date=December 2014}} {{Use British English|date=March 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Alexander Rolls | image = <!-- just the filename, without the File: or Image: prefix or enclosing brackets --> | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1818|7|18|df=y}} | birth_place = Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales | death_date = {{Death date and age|1882|4|22|1818|7|18|df=y}} | death_place = London, England | other_names = | known_for = | occupation = Mayor of Monmouth;<br/>Deputy Lieutenant for Monmouthshire;<br>Justice of the Peace for Monmouthshire;<br/>Major Royal Monmouthshire (Light Infantry) Militia;<br/>Major 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards }} Major '''Alexander Rolls''' (18 July 1818&nbsp;– 22 April 1882) was a native of Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales. A member of the renowned Rolls family of The Hendre at Llangattock-Vibon-Avel near Monmouth, Monmouthshire, his life in public service included four terms as Mayor of Monmouth. He was an officer in the Royal Monmouthshire (Light Infantry) Militia and the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards. Rolls married twice; the widower's second marriage was to a divorcée, English actress Helen Barry.

==Family==

[[File:The Hendre 1.JPG|thumb|240px|right|The Hendre at Llangattock-Vibon-Avel]] Alexander Rolls, second son of John Rolls (20 October 1776&nbsp;– 1837) and his wife Martha Maria Barnet Rolls, was born on 18 July 1818 in Swansea, Wales.<ref name=annals>{{cite book|title=Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales, Volume 2|year=1872|publisher=Longmans, Green, Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qjIwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA784 |author=Thomas Nicholas}}</ref> He was one of five children. His siblings were John Etherington Welch Rolls, Martha Sarah Rolls Macready, Jessy Rolls Harcourt (d. 1842 Paris), and Louisa Elizabeth Rolls Vaughan (d. 1853).<ref name=annals/> As a child, Alexander Rolls was educated at the Harrow School in Harrow, Middlesex, England. He left there in 1834 and attended the University of Göttingen in Göttingen, Germany.<ref name=harrow>{{cite book|title=The Harrow School register, 1801–1900|year=1901|publisher=Longmans, Green|url=https://archive.org/details/harrowschoolreg00welcgoog |author=Harrow School, M. G. Daughlish|edition=2|editor=Reginald Courtenay Welch|page=[https://archive.org/details/harrowschoolreg00welcgoog/page/n149 134]}}</ref>

Alexander's paternal grandmother Sarah Coysh Rolls had been the sole heir of the estates of the Coysh, Allen and James families.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gwent Archives Documents relating to the Rolls family, barons Llangattock, of The Hendre|url=http://www.archiveswales.org.uk/anw/get_collection.php?inst_id=36&coll_id=1190&expand=|work=archiveswales.org.uk|publisher=Archives Wales|access-date=21 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523024948/http://www.archiveswales.org.uk/anw/get_collection.php?inst_id=36&coll_id=1190&expand=|archive-date=23 May 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Included in her large inheritance was The Hendre which passed to her son John Rolls.<ref name=annals/> Following the death of Alexander's father John Rolls in 1837, his older brother John E. W. Rolls inherited the family home at Llangattock-Vibon-Avel, near Monmouth.<ref name=annals/> Alexander's father had undertaken the first of three expansions of The Hendre, which had originally been a hunting lodge. That first expansion was performed by architect George Vaughan Maddox in 1830. The second enlargement of The Hendre was under the direction of Alexander's brother John E W Rolls and was performed by architect Thomas Henry Wyatt. The third expansion was undertaken by Alexander's nephew John Allan Rolls, the future Lord Llangattock, in 1872, again using Wyatt as architect.<ref>{{cite news|title=A celebration of Charles Rolls|url=http://www.monmouth-today.co.uk/content/featurepages/web/MON1JUL07P015.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116132059/http://www.monmouth-today.co.uk/content/featurepages/web/MON1JUL07P015.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 January 2014|access-date=20 June 2012|newspaper=Monmouthshire Beacon|date=7 July 2010}}</ref> The family home underwent its final enlargement in 1896 by architect Aston Webb, again under the direction of J. A. Rolls, then Lord Llangattock.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of The Rolls of Monmouth|url=http://www.therollsgolfclub.co.uk/history/history.php|work=therollsgolfclub.co.uk|publisher=The Rolls of Monmouth Golf Club|access-date=25 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630175027/http://www.therollsgolfclub.co.uk/history/history.php|archive-date=30 June 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Hendre was Grade II* listed on 4 November 1985.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Hendre, Llangattock Vibon Avel|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wa-2773-the-hendre-llangattock-vibon-avel/photos|work=britishlistedbuildings.co.uk|publisher=British Listed Buildings|access-date=21 June 2012}}</ref>

==Public service==

Alexander Rolls spent a substantial portion of his life in public service. On 30 March 1838, Rolls purchased his commission as a junior officer, Cornet, in the regiment of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards.<ref>{{cite news|title=The London Gazette|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/19602/pages/783|access-date=22 June 2012|newspaper=The London Gazette|page=783|date=30 March 1838}}</ref> The following year, on 3 May 1839, he purchased his commission as Lieutenant in the 4th Dragoon Guards,<ref name=united>{{cite book|title=The United service magazine|year=1839|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lf4bAQAAIAAJ&q=Rolls|pages=285–287}}</ref> and eventually reached the rank of Major.<ref name=harrow/><ref name=tour/> The London Gazette of 15 December 1848 reported that Alexander Rolls was a Captain in the Royal Monmouthshire Militia, his commission signed by the county's Lord Lieutenant.<ref>{{cite news|title=The London Gazette|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/20926/pages/4540|access-date=22 June 2012|newspaper=The London Gazette|date=15 December 1848|page=4540}}</ref> On 3 May 1853, he was commissioned as a Major in the Royal Monmouthshire (Light Infantry) Militia, by the Lord Lieutenant.<ref name=harrow/><ref>{{cite news|title=The London Gazette|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/21436/pages/1264|access-date=22 June 2012|newspaper=The London Gazette|date=3 May 1853|page=1264}}</ref> He was also Justice of the Peace for Monmouthshire. Rolls became a Deputy Lieutenant for Monmouthshire on 24 July 1867, again receiving his commission from the Lord Lieutenant.<ref name=dramatic/><ref>{{cite book|title=The London gazette: the appointed organ for all announcements of the Executive|publisher=HMSO|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-D5EAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA4612|page=4612|date=20 August 1867}}</ref>

Major Alexander Rolls was elected Mayor of Monmouth in 1870, and in each of the next three consecutive years.<ref name=wmwarlow>{{cite book|title=A history of the charities of William Jones (founder of the "Golden lectureship" in London), at Monmouth & Newland|year=1899|publisher=W. Bennett|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iNo8l9bYMHkC&pg=PA332 |author=William Meyler Warlow|page=332}}</ref> In 1873, he donated a water pump to the town. The pump, which had a round trough at the base, stood in St James Square, previously an area of Whitecross Street.<ref name=illustrated/><ref name=warlow>{{cite book|title=A history of the charities of William Jones (founder of the "Golden lectureship" in London), at Monmouth & Newland|year=1899|publisher=W. Bennett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iNo8l9bYMHkC&pg=PA37 |author=William Meyler Warlow|pages=37–38}}</ref> It was the former site of a weighing machine<ref name=heath>{{cite book|title=Historical and descriptive accounts of the ancient and present state of the town of Monmouth: including a variety of particulars deserving the stranger's notice, relating to the borough and its neighbourhood|year=1804|publisher=C. Heath|page=314|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ghswAAAAYAAJ&q=white+cross|author=Charles Heath}}</ref> and, before that, a stone cross which had given Whitecross Street its name.<ref name=illustrated/><ref name=warlow/><ref name=heath/> The pump had the inscription, "This Pump was presented to the public by Alexander Rolls, of Croft-y-bwla, in the third year of his Mayoralty of this Borough, 1873. A merciful man is merciful to his beast."<ref name=illustrated>{{cite book|title=Illustrated handbook to Monmouth|year=1875|publisher=Monmouth town|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L3cHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA25 |author=Monmouth town|page=26}}</ref>

==Marriage and later life== In 1839, Rolls married Kate Steward, third daughter of Ambrose Steward of Stoke Park, Ipswich, Suffolk.<ref name=united/><ref name=tour>{{cite book|title=A historical tour through Monmouthshire|year=1904|publisher=Davies and co. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ofFBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR5-IA7 |author=William Coxe|edition=2|editor=Edwin Davies|pages=v–vi}}</ref> The couple resided in Monmouth in 1841.<ref>{{citation|first=Alexander|last=Rolls|title=1841 Wales Census|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841. The National Archives of the UK (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> By 1861,<ref>{{citation|last=Roth (sic)|first=Alexander|title=1861 Wales Census|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861. The National Archives of the UK (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> Rolls and his wife had moved to Croft-Y-Bwla, a classical villa northwest of the town centre of Monmouth, positioned such that it had a view of the town. Croft-Y-Bwla had been designed by George Vaughan Maddox for Thomas Dyke about 1830. Dyke was a Grocer of Monmouth, and became mayor of the town in 1832,<ref>{{cite book|title=Gwent/Monmouthshire (Click "View all")|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-09630-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=knRf4U60QjcC&pg=PA45|author=John Newman|edition=illustrated|date=11 March 2000|pages=45, 411}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 2|year=1871|publisher=Harrison|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmh2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1187 |author=Bernard Burke|page=1187}}</ref> serving two more terms in 1838 and 1839.<ref name=wmwarlow/> Croft-Y-Bwla was grade II listed on 15 August 1974.<ref>{{cite web|title=Croft-y-bwla, Monmouth|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/wa-2371-croft-y-bwla-monmouth|work=britishlistedbuildings.co.uk|publisher=British Listed Buildings|access-date=20 June 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Croft-y-Bwla, Garden, Monmouth|url=http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/265924/details/CROFT-Y-BWLA%2C+GARDEN%2C+MONMOUTH/|publisher=Government of the United Kingdom|access-date=20 June 2012|archive-date=4 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004222907/http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/265924/details/CROFT-Y-BWLA%2C+GARDEN%2C+MONMOUTH/|url-status=dead}}</ref> At the time of the 1871 Wales Census, Rolls and his wife were still living at Croft-Y-Bwla.<ref>{{citation|first=Alexander|last=Rolls|title=1871 Wales Census|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871. The National Archives of the UK (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> However, he was widowed in 1876,<ref name=tour/> his wife's death registered at Monmouth in the first quarter of the year.<ref>{{citation|last=Rolls|first=Kate|title=England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837–1915|work=ancestry.com|publisher=General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref>

The following year, Rolls married divorcée Helen Elizabeth Brandon, née Short.<ref name=marriage>{{citation|first=Alexander|last=Rolls|title=England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837–1915|work=ancestry.com|publisher=General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> The English actress was twenty-two years his junior, and better known by her stage name, Helen Barry.<ref name=dramatic>{{cite book|title=The dramatic list: a record of the principal performances of living actors and actresses of the British stage|year=1879|publisher=Roberts Brothers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2d09AQAAIAAJ&q=Alexander+Rolls,+Helen+Barry&pg=PA25|author=Charles Eyre Pascoe|pages=25–26|isbn=9780827422025}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Our actors and actresses. The dramatic list|publisher=Bogue|year=1880|url=https://archive.org/details/ouractorsandact00pascgoog|quote=Alexander Rolls, Helen Barry.|author=Charles Eyre Pascoe|edition=2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ouractorsandact00pascgoog/page/n41 34]–35}}</ref> The day before that marriage, however, Rolls appeared before officials of the Diocese of London. His address at that time was the Parish of Saint George, Hanover Square, Middlesex. Rolls signed an affidavit that his fiancée had married Joseph Brandon on 3 May 1855 (at age fifteen) at the Parish Church of Saint Luke, Charlton, Kent. He also acknowledged that, on 2 June 1870, the marriage had been dissolved at Westminster, upon the petition of Joseph Brandon, with the divorce finalised on 29 February 1876.<ref>{{citation|first=Alexander|last=Rolls Esquire|title=London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597–1921|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Marriage Bonds and Allegations. London Metropolitan Archives. (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Short|first=Elizabeth|title=England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index: 1837–1915|work=ancestry.com|publisher=General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> The marriage between Rolls and Barry (as Helen Elizabeth Brandon) was registered in the third quarter of 1877,<ref name=marriage/> with the ceremony performed on 1 September at the Parish Church of St Mark at Regent's Park in Middlesex.<ref name=banns>{{citation|last=Brandon|first=Helen Elizabeth|title=London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754–1921|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Church of England Parish Registers, 1754–1921. London Metropolitan Archives, London (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref>

[[File:Helen Barry on Broadway.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Actress Helen Barry, second wife of Alexander Rolls]] Actress Helen Barry was born Elizabeth Short on 5 January 1840 in Lee, Kent, England, the daughter of Charles Henry Short and his wife Mary.<ref name=banns/><ref name=elizabeth>{{citation|last=Short|first=Elizabeth|title=England & Wales Christening Records, 1530–1906|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Genealogical Society of Utah. British Isles Vital Records Index, 2nd Edition (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref><ref name=ebrandon>{{citation|last=Brandon|first=Elizabeth|title=1861 England Census|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861. The National Archives of the UK (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> Her daughter Esther E Brandon was born in Greenwich, Kent in the second quarter of 1855, around the time of Elizabeth's marriage to Joseph Brandon, a native of Belgium.<ref name=ebrandon/><ref>{{citation|last=Brandon|first=Esther|title=England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837–1915|work=ancestry.com|publisher=General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> Elizabeth began acting as Helen Barry in 1872, after her divorce, and after her daughter Esther had been put out as an apprentice.<ref>{{citation|last=Brandon|first=Ester|title=1871 England Census|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871. The National Archives of the UK (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> Helen Barry first appeared in ''Babil and Bijou'' at the Covent Garden Theatre. The actress also performed in ''The Happy Land'' at the Court Theatre, and ''Arkwright's Wife'' at the Leeds Theatre Royal and, following its move, London's Globe Theatre. She appeared in ''Heart's Delight'' in 1873–1874, and ''Led Astray'' at the Gaiety Theatre in 1874. After touring outside London, she returned to star in ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' and ''Heartsease'', both at the Princess's Theatre, London. In 1876, Barry starred in ''L'Étrangère'' and, later, ''True Till Death''.<ref name=dramatic/> Helen Barry continued to perform in the theatre after her second marriage.<ref>{{cite book|title=Our Actors and Actresses: The Dramatic List- A Record of the Performances of Living Actors and Actresses of the British Stage|year=1969|publisher=Ayer Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQzpJnqj6mkC&q=Barry%2C+Helen+%28Mrs.+Alexander+Rolls%29|author=Charles E. Pascoe|edition=revised|access-date=25 June 2012|pages=34–35}}</ref>

Less than two years after his marriage to Barry, the London Gazette of 11 April 1879 indicated that Alexander Rolls of 82 Regent's Park Road, Middlesex County, had declared bankruptcy.<ref>{{cite news|title=The London Gazette|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/24708/pages/2818|access-date=21 June 2012|newspaper=The London Gazette|page=2818|date=11 April 1879}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Kelly's handbook to the upper 10,000|year=1878|publisher=Kelly and Co.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-ENAAAAQAAJ&q=Croft-y-bwla,+Alexander+Rolls&pg=PA503|page=503}}</ref> By 1881, he was lodging in the Parish of Saint George, Hanover Square, London, and his wife was not recorded at that address.<ref>{{citation|first=Alexander|last=Rolls|title=1881 England Census|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881. The National Archives of the UK (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> Alexander Rolls died on 22 April 1882 in London.<ref name=harrow/><ref>{{citation|first=Alexander|last=Rolls|title=England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837–1915 a|work=ancestry.com|publisher=General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> His widow moved to the United States following his death, where she appeared in theatrical performances in New York City.<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements&nbsp;– Miss Helen Barry|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1883/05/15/102820620.pdf|access-date=22 June 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=15 May 1883}}</ref> Less than one year after her second husband's death, Barry was married and widowed again. Helen Barry's third husband Harry George Bolam (1845–1883), a land agent and mining engineer, died at Westminster Flats in New York City from pneumonia on 23 March 1883, shortly after their marriage.<ref>{{cite book|title=Transactions, Volume 15|year=1883|publisher=Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors|url=https://archive.org/details/transactions02survgoog|quote=Harry George Bolam.|page=[https://archive.org/details/transactions02survgoog/page/n463 450]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Died&nbsp;– Bolam, H. G.|newspaper=New York Herald|date=24 March 1883}}</ref> The actress continued to perform in both New York and London.<ref>{{cite news|title=Amusements&nbsp;– Miss Helen Barry|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1883/05/15/102820620.pdf|access-date=26 June 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=15 May 1883}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Helen Barry to Visit America|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/12/10/106188443.pdf|access-date=26 June 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=10 December 1887}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Love and Liberty&nbsp;– Helen Barry to be Seen in an Emotional Character|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1889/08/19/100967988.pdf|access-date=26 June 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=19 August 1889}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=NYPL Digital Gallery&nbsp;– Helen Barry|url=http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=708151&imageID=834078&total=2&num=0&word=Grimm%2C%20Constantin%20de&s=3&notword=&d=&c=&f=4&k=0&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&imgs=20&pos=1&e=w#_seemore|work=digitalgallery.nypl.org|publisher=The New York Public Library|access-date=26 June 2012}}</ref> "Helen Rolls Bolam of New York" died on 20 July 1904 in Norwalk, Connecticut, USA. The date of probate was 24 April 1906.<ref name=probate>{{citation|last=Rolls Bolam|first=Helen|title=England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1966|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref>

==Family tree==

Sources<ref name=annals/><ref name=harrow/><ref name=elizabeth/><ref name=probate/><ref>{{citation|last=Rolls|first=Sarah|title=London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Church of England Parish Registers, 1538–1812. London Metropolitan Archives (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref><ref name=aaronburial>{{citation|last=Aaron|first=Rolls|title=London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Church of England Parish Registers, 1538–1812. London Metropolitan Archives (as reprinted on Ancestry.com)}}</ref> {{Tree chart/start}} {{Tree chart | | | | AaR|v|Eli| | | || |AaR='''Aaron Rolls'''<br>(d. 1764)|Eli='''Elizabeth''' }} {{Tree chart | | | | | | |!| | | | | |}} {{Tree chart | | | | | |JR|v|SaC| | | SaC='''Sarah Coysh'''<br>(d. 1801)|JR='''John Rolls'''<br>(1735–1801) }} {{Tree chart | | | | | | | | |!| | |}} {{Tree chart | | | | | | | |JR2|v|MMB|JR2='''John Rolls'''<br>'''of The Hendre'''<br>(1776–1837)|MMB='''Martha Maria Barnet''' }} {{Tree chart | | | | | | | | | | |!|}} {{Tree chart | | | | | | |KaS|-|AR|-|HESB|KaS='''Kate Steward'''|AR='''Alexander Rolls'''<br>(1818–1882)|HESB='''Helen Elizabeth Short Brandon'''<br>stage name '''Helen Barry'''<br>(1840–1904) |boxstyle_AR=background-color: #faa }} {{Tree chart/end}}

==References==

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120317085921/http://www.army.mod.uk/royalengineers/units/847.aspx Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia)] * [http://www.therollsgolfclub.co.uk/ The Rolls of Monmouth, formerly The Hendre]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolls, Alexander}} <!--- Categories ---> Category:1818 births Category:1882 deaths Category:4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards officers Category:People from Monmouth, Wales Category:Mayors of Monmouth Category:People educated at Harrow School Alexander Category:University of Göttingen alumni Category:Military personnel from Swansea Category:19th-century British Army personnel Category:Royal Engineers officers