From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Letter of condolence from F.H. Royce to Mr. Bruder regarding the loss of his son, also discussing a car accident and vehicle performance.
| Identifier | Morton\M10\ img077 | |
| Date | 1st April 1928 guessed | |
| Dear Mr Bruder, It was with extreme regret and sadness that I learnt of the loss of your excellent son. Owing to precarious health I have not been allowed to attend at the Derby works for some years so I only knew your son only slightly, but I thought him very worthy of the trust that was placed in him, from here (600 miles away). I only heard of accident when too late to do anything. The cause of the accident has not yet been decided but whether it was traffic trouble, treacherous or slipping surface, road or failure of machine or judgement, I must not say but as you probably know the car had been through a long trial of about 12,000 miles and at the beginning of which I rode in the front & the back over some very difficult roads here & the general opinion was that during the trial & examinations that we had, it was the best specimen that had ever been produced. I believe now this chassis I am using has all the parts & has also completed 7000 miles of running during this winter over extraordinary bad roads. Unfortunately, the sudden monsoon rain & some change in the road surface when wet might allow the tyres to slip treacherously. Again sending you my deepest sympathy in your most extremely serious & regrettable loss. This & Mr Rolls' accident are a terrible drawback to the good that I have experienced in a long life amongst dangerous machinery. yours very sincerely F H RoyceSir Henry Royce | ||