Stop 4: Sir Alliott Verdon Roe-Information
Sir Edwin Alliott Verdon-Roe lived here from 1940 until his death in 1958. He left school at age 14 and went to British Columbia, returning a year later to become an apprentice at the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway’s locomotive shops. He left the shops and went to sea on a freighter where, while observing seagulls, he became interested in the problem of flight. Back in England he heard of the success of the Wright Brothers and set out to build his own plane. On June 8, 1908, he flew his biplane a distance of 75 feet (23 m).
Roe founded A.V. Roe and Company, Ltd., with his brother Humphrey in 1910. Of his early planes, the Avro 504 was the most successful: more than 17,000 were manufactured. It was used on bombing missions in the early part of World War I and served as a trainer for British pilots. Ten years after the war, Roe severed all ties with his company and acquired an interest in another firm, which became Saunders-Roe, Ltd.; the company designed and manufactured flying boats. He was knighted in 1929.
Avro aircraft played an important part in World War II, and Avro developed some of the major air weapons of Britain’s modern air-force including the Vulcan bomber and the Blue Steel missile. In 1962 A.V. Roe Company became an integral unit of Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Ltd.
During the Second World War, two of his sons were killed in action whilst serving with the RAF. They were Squadron Leader Eric Alliott Verdon-Roe who died in 1941 aged 26, and Squadron Leader Lighton Verdon-Roe DFC who died in 1943 aged 22.
Sir Alliott died on 4 January 1958 at St Mary’s Hospital in Portsmouth. He was buried in the churchyard of the parish church of St Andrew, in Hamble, and there is a commemorative plaque to him and his sons inside the church.
After Sir Alliott’s death his wife Lady Patricia continued to live in Links Lane and when she died, she left the house to her nephews and nieces who never made it their main residence and it has now passed out of the family.
You will notice that this house is down a long drive, much longer than many in Links Lane. This is because the plot on which it was built was a square area, to the North of Steine Cottage. Access to the building was initially through Steine Farm, where there is now an overflow car park for Rowlands Castle Golf Course. The owner of 51 Links Lane in 1935, Hassal Tiltman got permission to move the entrance of the property to Links Lane, where it is today. Interestingly Hassal Tiltman was also an aeroplane designer who lost a son in the First World War. It is speculation but maybe, Alliott and Hassall, who had so much in common, knew each other and Alliott had visited Tiltman in Rowlands Castle and so became aware of this property which he subsequently bought.