Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (/bruːˈnɛl/, French: [maʁk izɑ̃baʁ bʁynɛl]; 25 April 1769 – 12 December 1849) was a French-British engineer[1] who is most famous for the work he did in Britain.

In addition to the construction of the Thames Tunnel, his work as a mechanical engineer included the design of machinery to automate the production of pulley blocks for the Royal Navy.

Brunel preferred the given name Isambard, but is generally known to history as Marc to avoid confusion with his more famous son.

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.

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.

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.

He got involved in a scheme to link the Hudson River by canal with Lake Champlain, and also submitted a design for the new Capitol building to be built in Washington.

[5] In 1798, during a dinner conversation, Brunel learnt of the difficulties that the Royal Navy had in obtaining the 100,000 pulley blocks that it needed each year.

He sailed for England on 7 February 1799 with a letter of introduction to the Navy Minister, and on 7 March his ship, Halifax, landed at Falmouth.

[5] Whilst Brunel had been in the United States, Sophia Kingdom had remained in Rouen and during the Reign of Terror, she was arrested as an English spy and daily expected to be executed.

[7] When Brunel arrived from the United States, he immediately travelled to London and made contact with Kingdom.

During the summer of 1799 Brunel was introduced to Henry Maudslay, a talented engineer who had worked for Joseph Bramah, and had recently started his own business.

In April 1802 Bentham recommended the installation of Brunel's block-making machinery at Portsmouth Block Mills.

Brunel's machine could be operated by unskilled workers, at ten times the previous rate of production.

[7] Brunel was a talented mechanical engineer, and did much to develop sawmill machinery, undertaking contracts for the British Government at Chatham and Woolwich dockyards, building on his experience at the Portsmouth Block Mills.

He also developed machinery for mass-producing soldiers' boots, but before this could reach full production, demand ceased due to the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

As time passed with no prospect of gaining release, Brunel began to correspond with Alexander I of Russia about the possibility of moving with his family to St Petersburg to work for the Tsar.

As soon as it was learnt that Britain was likely to lose such an eminent engineer as Brunel, influential figures, such as the Duke of Wellington, began to press for government intervention.

It is claimed that Brunel found the inspiration for his tunnelling shield from the shipworm, Teredo navalis, which has its head protected by a hard shell whilst it bores through ships' timbers.

This vertical shaft was completed in November 1825, and the tunnelling shield, which had been manufactured at Lambeth by Henry Maudslay's company, was then assembled at the bottom.

During the tunnelling both Brunel and his assistant engineer suffered ill health and for a while Isambard had to bear the whole burden of the work.

He undertook various civil engineering projects, including helping his son, Isambard, with his design of the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Miners were affected by the constant influx of polluted water, and many fell ill. As the tunnel approached the Wapping shore, work began on sinking a vertical shaft similar to the Rotherhithe one.

On 12 December 1849, Brunel died at the age of 80, and his remains were interred in Kensal Green Cemetery in London.