(b.1801 - d.1845) Inventor of the modern lawnmower, who lived in Arbroath. While credit is usually given to the Englishman Edwin Budding (1795 - 1846) for the invention of the lawnmower, it is Shanks' machine which was the direct predecessor of the modern mower. Shanks' innovation was a machine which rolled the grass as well as mowing it. Although Shanks himself died at a young age, his son showed the mowers at the Great Exhibition (1851) which led to a successful business that continued into the 20th century, supplying mowers to cut the tennis courts of Wimbledon, the cricket grounds at Lords and the Old Course at St Andrews.

Derived from the Gazetteer for Scotland with permission.

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