Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806 - 1859)
"...the most prolific and talented engineer of them all - Isambard Kingdom Brunel."
Jeremy Clarkson, 'Great Britons'.
In 2002, the BBC conducted a vote to discover the 100 Greatest Britons of all time, coming only second to Sir Winston Churchill, Isambard Kingdom Brunel is rightly regarded as one of the greatest Britons who has ever lived. His remarkable achievements, most of which can be enjoyed today, are testament to his genius.
Born in Portsmouth on 9 April, 1806, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was the only son of the French civil engineer, Sir Marc Brunel. Like his father, he was destined to follow a similar, equally ambitious engineering career. He was educated at Hove, near Brighton and then studied for two years at the College Henri Quatre in Paris. In 1823 Brunel went to work with his father on the building of the Thames Tunnel from Rotherhithe to Wapping, where he was later appointed as resident engineer when the resident engineer, William Armstrong, resigned due to ill health.
In 1829 Brunel designed the magnificent suspension bridge which crosses the River Avon in Clifton, Bristol. Although his original design was rejected on the advice of Thomas Telford (1757-1834), an improved version, which was to have had sphinxes on the pylons and hieroglyphic decoration of Egyptian inspiration, was accepted. Unfortunately, the project had to be abandoned because of a lack of funds.
After being appointed chief engineer at the Bristol Docks in 1831, Brunel designed the Monkwearmouth Docks. He later went on to design and build similar docks at Plymouth, Cardiff, Brentford and Milford Haven.
At 27 years if age in March 1833, Isambard Brunel was appointed chief engineer of the Great Western Railway. His work on the line that linked London to Bristol, helped to establish Brunel as one of the world's leading engineers. Impressive achievements on the route included the viaducts at Hanwell and Chippenham, the Maidenhead Bridge, the Box Tunnel and the Bristol Temple Meads Station. Controversially, Brunel used the broad gauge (2.2 m) instead of the standard gauge (1.55m) on the line. This created problems as passengers had to transfer trains at places such as Gloucester where the two gauges met.
Brunel persuaded the Great Western Railway Company to let him build a steam ship to travel from Bristol to New York. The Great Western made its first voyage to New York in 1838. At that time the largest steamship in existence was 208 feet long, whereas the Great Western was 236 feet long. The journey to America took fifteen days and over the next eight years made 60 crossings.
The next steamship that Brunel built in Bristol was the ss Great Britain.At the time of her launch in 1843 she was by far the largest ship in the world, over 100 feet longer than her rivals, and the first screw propelled, ocean-going, wrought iron ship. She was designed initially for the Trans-Atlantic luxury passenger trade, and could carry 252 first and second class passengers and 130 crew. She is widely recognised as one of the technological fore-runners of much modern shipping and exemplifies the industry and inventiveness of the Victorian era, while symbolising the birth of international passenger travel and world communications.
Brunel was employed by the Eastern Steam Navigation Company in 1853 to build another steamship, the Great Eastern. Built on the Thames, the ship had an iron hull and two paddle wheels. The Great Eastern was extremely large and was designed to carry 4,000 passengers. Brunel was faced with a series of difficult engineering problems to overcome on this project and the strain of the work began to affect his health. While watching the Great Eastern in her trials, Brunel suffered a stroke. He died on 15th September, 1859. He was buried at Kensal Green cemetery five days later.
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