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.

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.

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.

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.

[2] The craft flew a few feet off the ground at Shell Mound Park racetrack, Millbrae during a short demonstration on 2 July 1869,[12] Following, Avitor was moved to the San Francisco Mechanics' Institute Pavilion, the largest hall in the city and displayed with scheduled flights four times per day.