Thomas Shaw Brandreth

Thomas Shaw Brandreth (1788–1873) was a British inventor and a director of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway who entered Cycloped in the 1829 Rainhill Trials, a horse-powered machine in which a horse walked on a treadmill that drove the wheels through a leather belt. Cycloped attained 5 mph in trials but, being non-steam, was disqualified before formal competition.

Born at Liverpool on 24 July 1788, Brandreth was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn. He worked as a barrister and amateur engineer and held a number of patents covering railway and other mechanical inventions. He died at Worthing on 27 May 1873.