Automated loading before Dreadnought

How early in the dreadnought era did development of fully automated loading systems start?

The answer places early major-gun automated-loading attempts around 1901, before HMS Dreadnought, alongside late-1890s dreadnought-era thinking.

Heavy-gun automation predates HMS Dreadnought. The first attempts at automated loading for major guns date to about 1901, while the ideas later associated with Dreadnought were already under discussion in the 1890s. The timing separates construction of the famous ship from the longer development of its weapons and design concepts.