Frederick Marriott | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 16 July 1805 Enfield, London, England |
| Died | 16 December 1884 (aged 79) San Francisco, California, United States |
Frederick Marriott (16 July 1805, Enfield, England[2] – 16 December 1884, San Francisco, California) was an Anglo-American publisher and early promoter of aviation who created the Avitor Hermes Jr., the first unmanned aircraft to fly by its own power in the United States.
His early years were influenced by his father William Marriott, a law agent and editor of the Taunton Courier in Taunton, England. During his early 20s he was employed as a clerk in Bombay by the East India Company, returning to England in the early 1830s, where he married and accepted a position with the Bank of England.
The rapid expansion of the printing industry in Britain during the 1830s prompted Marriott to resign from the Bank of England and use a substantial portion of his wife's inheritance to fund a number of new publications. With the expanding readership of working class in England during the Industrial Revolution, the investments paid off; Marriott was involved in the creation of the Weekly Chronicle[3] and popular Illustrated London News.
In 1845 Marriott began publishing a weekly publication Chat, however by 1849 the venture failed, nearly bankrupting him. This lead ultimately to the dissolution of his marriage.
Rumours of gold in the American West prompted Marriott to pursue further adventure overseas; age 45 he sailed to California via the treacherous Isthmus of Panama and was nearly shipwrecked. Avoiding the temptation of the gold fields, Marriott became a banker in San Francisco. In 1856 he used his accumulated wealth to start a publication known as the Newsletter.[4]
He was described by the publisher of the newspaper Northern Indianian, 19 March 1874 as "an English gentlemen, of eccentric habits, much shrewdness and enterprise, and entire originality".
Marriott is credited with inventing the term "aeroplane", and intended to build an air transport system that would bring people from New York to California without the perils of the normal voyage of the 19th century. The company he formed (with Andrew Smith Hallidie) in 1866 was named the Aerial Steam Navigation Company.[5]
- ^ "Frederick Marriott [graphic]". California State Library. California Hist. Room (CALIF); Picture Collection: Bradley & Rulofson. c. 1873.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Twainwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
ILNwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Morgan, Charles Evans (May 1993). "Steam-Powered Pioneer". Aviation: 48–53.
- ^ Williams, Reub (19 March 1874). "A Warsaw Boy in London". Northern Indianian. YesterYear in Print.