Edwin Beard Budding (25 August 1796 – 25 September 1846[1]), an engineer born in Eastington, Stroud, Gloucestershire, was the English inventor of the lawnmower (1830) and adjustable spanner (1842).

[2] Budding's mower was designed primarily to cut the lawn on sports grounds and extensive gardens, as a superior alternative to the scythe, and was granted a British patent on 31 August 1830.

The mower was pushed from behind with motive power coming from the rear land roller which drove gears to transfer the drive to the knives on the cutting cylinder; the ratio was 16:1.

Budding realized that a similar device could be used to cut grass if the mechanism was mounted in a wheeled frame to make the blades rotate close to the lawn's surface.

[6] Budding's engineering and manufacturing skills also extended to the production of a five-shot percussion revolver having brass manually-rotated barrels in about 1830.