Colonel Francis Macerone, British soldier and mechanical inventor, 1822.

Lithograph engraving by Charles Picart after a drawing by Abraham Wivell. Macerone (1788-1846), often known by the English pronunciation 'Maceroni', was born in Birmingham, West Midlands to Italian imigrants. He fought in the Napoleonic wars and was aide-de-camp to Joachim Murat, King of Naples and his envoy in England. In later life he turned to inventing. His most important invention was a steam coach, which he made in asociation with John Squire in 1832. This was capable of carrying eight pasengers and ran succesfully for 18 months over a distance of several thousand kilometres, without need of significant repairs.