Rolle was the eldest son of John Rolle (1679–1730), Member of Parliament for Devon (who had declined the offer of an earldom by Queen Anne) by his wife Isabella Walter, daughter of Sir William Walter, 2nd Baronet, of Saresden, Oxfordshire. His younger brother John Rolle Walter assumed the surname of Walter on succeeding to the estates of his maternal uncle and also represented Devon in Parliament.
From 1741 to 1748 he represented Barnstaple in Parliament. Lord Rolle died unmarried in August 1750, aged 41, when the barony became extinct. In 1731 Henry Rolle obtained the following inspeximus from King George II which effectively confirmed his title in part of his inheritance, namely various grants made by King Henry VIII to Sir Thomas Denys of Holcombe Burnell:
Inspeximus (at the request of Henry Rolle of Stevenstone), of a grant of Henry VIII (11 February 31 Henry VIII), to Thomas Denys of Holcombe Burnell, Knight for £1,127.3s.4d., of the Manors of Litlam alias Littelham and Exmouthe belonging to the late Monastery of Shirbourne, Dorset, in as full manner as the last Abbot held the same.
Also the messuage formerly in the tenure of Katherine Lytton in the parish of Saint Peter-the-Less, in the ward of Beynardes Castell in London.
Which messuage lately belonged to the late Monastery of Croxden, Staffs and is worth 26s.8d. per year. Also the hundred of Budlegh alias East Budleigh which came to the King"s hands by the attainder of Henry Courteney, late Marquis of Exeter.
To hold by the following yearly rent, viz. Foreign the Manors of Litlam and Exmouth, £6.
3s. 10d. for the messuage in London, 2s.
8d., the hundred of East Budleigh to be held by the 20th part of a Knight"s fee without any rent. East Budleigh and Bicton had been inherited by the Rolles by marriage to the Denys heiress.
