Marc Isambard Brunel

Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (/bruːˈnɛl/, French: [maʁk izɑ̃baʁ bʁynɛl]; 25 April 1769 – 12 December 1849) was a French-American engineer active in the United States and Britain, most famous for the civil engineering work he did in the latter. He is known for having overseen the process for and construction of the Thames Tunnel, for his work for the Royal Navy, and as the father of the British civil and mechanical engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Born in France, Brunel preferred his given name Isambard (but is generally known in history as Marc, to avoid confusion with his famous son). Brunel fled to the United States during the French Revolution, and involved himself in engineering and architectural pursuits, including offering an impressive design for the new United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. After being naturalized in 1796, he was appointed Chief Engineer of New York City, and went on to design military, commercial, and other buildings.

He moved to London in 1799, where he married Sophia Kingdom. In Britain, his work as a mechanical engineer included the design of machinery to automate the production of pulley blocks for the Royal Navy, and he went on to design and patent a "shield" to protect tunneling workers, and to oversee construction of the Thames Tunnel. The tunnel opened on 25 March 1843 (later passing to railway companies and the London Underground), and remains in use today.

The events of Brunel's life spanned from a period of indebtedness and prison over failed business ventures, to his being knighted by the young Queen Victoria (in 1841), in anticipation of his successful completion of the Thames Tunnel, recognition preceded by his being named, in sequence, beginning in 1814, to the Royal Society (Fellow), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and following the tunnel's completion, his being named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (in 1845).

Brunel was the second son of Jean Charles Brunel and Marie-Victoire Lefebvre. Jean Charles was a prosperous farmer in Hacqueville, Normandy, and Marc was born on the family farm. It was customary in prosperous families for the first son to inherit the family land and the second son to enter the priesthood. His father therefore started Marc on a classical education, but he showed no liking for Greek or Latin and instead showed himself proficient in drawing and mathematics. He was also very musical from an early age.

At the age of eleven he was sent to a seminary in Rouen. The superior of the seminary allowed him to learn carpentry, and he soon achieved the standards of a cabinetmaker. He also sketched ships in the local harbour. As he showed no desire to become a priest, his father sent him to stay with relatives in Rouen, where a family friend tutored him on naval matters. In 1786, as a result of this tuition, Marc became a naval cadet on a French frigate and during his service visited the West Indies several times. He made an octant for himself from brass and ivory, and used it during his service.

In 1789, during Brunel's service abroad, the French Revolution began. In January 1792 Brunel's frigate paid off its crew, and Brunel returned to live with his relatives in Rouen. He was a Royalist sympathiser, as were most of the inhabitants of Normandy. In January 1793, whilst visiting Paris during the trial of Louis XVI, Brunel unwisely publicly predicted the demise of Robespierre, one of the leaders of the Revolution. He was lucky to get out of Paris with his life, and returned to Rouen. However, it was evident that he would have to leave France. During his stay in Rouen, Brunel had met Sophia Kingdom, a young English woman who was an orphan and was working as a governess. He was forced to leave her behind when he fled to Le Havre and boarded the American ship Liberty, bound for New York.

Per the account of R. Anthony Hyman,