| Authorised form of name | Brunel; Sir; Marc Isambard (1769 - 1849); civil engineer |
| Dates | 1769 - 1849 |
| Nationality | French |
| Place of birth | Hacqueville, near Gisors, Normandy, France, Europe |
| Date of birth | 25 April 1769 |
| Place of death | 1 Prospect Park, St James's Park, London, England, United Kingdom, Europe |
| Date of death | 12 December 1849 |
| Dates and places | Burial:
Kensal Green cemetery, London, England, United Kingdom, Europe |
| Occupation | Civil engineer |
| Activity | Education:
Gisors (1777); St Nicaise seminary at Rouen (1780)
Career:
Received training in hydrography and draughtmanship from Franois Carpentier; volunteered for journey to West Indies on 'Le Marchal de Castries' (1786-1792); fled France to New York and became a civil engineer (1793); appointed chief engineer of New York (1795); moved to England (1799); patented various machines he had invented, including one for making ships' blocks; erected sawmills at Battersea and Woolwich; cast into prison for debt; built the Thames Tunnel (1825-1842)
Honours:
French Lgion d'honneur (1829)
Kt (24 March 1841)
Memberships:
Member of the Institutions of Civil Engineers (1823); Foreign Member of the Royal Academy of Science in Stockholm (1828); Foreign Horonary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1834); Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society Edinburgh (1845)
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 24/03/1814 |
| Age at election | 44 |
| Royal Society activity | Royal Society roles:
Sworn into Council 1 December 1832 ; VP 1832-1834
Committee and panels:
Report of the Hydrometer Committee (1832) |
| Relationships | Parents: Jean Charles Brunel and Marie Victoire Lefèvre
Married: Sophie Kingdom
Children: Sophia Kingdom Brunel; Emma Kingdom; Isambard Kingdom Brunel (FRS 1830) |
| General context | Due to his royalist stance, which many people from Normandy shared, he had to flee France during the Reign of Terror. His later-wife, Sophie Kingdom, was imprisoned during this time as an English spy and was spared a death sentence through the fall of Robespierre in 1794. Throughout his life, Brunel struggled with his finances and after a financially unsuccessful venture into other industries, he remained within civil engineering. He and his son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, continuously collaborated throughout their professional lives, although his son is frequently considered the more well-known and successful one of the pair in his contributions to engineering. |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
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| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; ODNB
References:
Sir Alan Muir Wood, 'Self-Confident Engineer', review of Adrian Vaughan, Isambard Kingdom Brunel: Engineering Knight Errant in NR 1994 vol 48 pp 323-325
F C Moon, 'Robert Willis and Franz Reuleaux: pioneers in the theory of machines' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 209-230 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/134149196547674792547 |
| Royal Society code | NA7956 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| MM/13/89 | Minutes of meeting of the Excise Committee | 13 January 1835 |
| DM/4/142 | Copy of report from M I Brunel, Bryan Donkin and Field to Viscount Althrop | 15 February 1831 |
| DM/4/147 | Letter from M I Brunel to Henry Warburton | 28 February 1831 |
| RR/1/255 | Referee's report by Marc Isambard Brunel, on a paper 'On the resistance of fluids to bodies through water' by Walker | 15 July 1833 |
| IM/000624 | Brunel, Marc Isambard | nd |
| M/031 | Brunel, Marc Isambard Thames Tunnel medal | |
| MM/13/84 | Minutes of meeting of the Excise Committee | 11 December 1832 |
| MM/13/85 | Minutes of meeting of the Excise Committee | 20 December 1832 |
| MM/13/90 | Minutes of meeting of the Excise Committee | 13 January 1835 |
| CMP/1/1 | Minutes of a meeting of Council of the Royal Society | 1 December 1832 |
| MM/13/88 | Minutes of meeting of the Excise Committee | 29 January 1833 |
| MM/13/87 | Minutes of meeting of the Excise Committee | 22 January 1833 |
| MM/13/86 | Minutes of meeting of the Excise Committee | 15 January 1833 |
| EC/1813/16 | Brunel, Sir Marc Isambard: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| CMP/1/2 | Minutes of a meeting of Council of the Royal Society | 13 December 1832 |
| MC/2 | Volume 2 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1832-1838 |
| MC/2/53 | Letter from Marc Isambard Brunel to John George Children, Secretary of the Royal Society | 21 October 1832 |
| AP/13/20/1 | Unpublished letter, relating to Parrot's method for repairing a hole in a tunnel from Mc I [Marc Isambard] Brunel to Dr [William Hyde] Wollaston | 16 June 1828 |
| AP/13/20/2 | Unpublished manuscript, 'Observations on the plan proposed by Mr Parrot of St Petersbourg [Petersburg] for mending the hole over the tunnel, securing the works against future irruption [upsurges] and in case of any irruption [upsurge], for saving the men' by Mc I [Marc Isambard] Brunel | 16 June 1828 |
| AP/18/5a | Unpublished letter, regarding the recovery of treasure from the wreck of HMS Thetis from M I [Marc Isambard] Brunel to J G [John George] Children | 20 March 1834 |
| AP/18/5f | Unpublished letter, regarding the recovery of treasure from the wreck of HMS Thetis from M I [Marc Isambard] Brunel to J G [John George] Children | 15 May 1834 |
| AP/13/20 | Unpublished paper and letter, 'Observations on the plan proposed by Mr Parrot of St Petersbourg [Petersburg] for mending the hole over the tunnel, securing the works against future irruption [upsurges] and in case of any irruption [upsurge], for saving the men' by Mc I [Marc Isambard] Brunel | 16 June 1828 |