Brunel family, civil engineers

The file contains 30 documents connected with three men from the Brunel family of famous French/British engineers.

There are 12 items pertaining to Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859), 8807/1-8807/12: nine autograph letters (addressees include J. Manby, G. Gutch, Stephen Gower, Fowler; some unknown) and three notes.

There are 13 items for Sir Marc Isambard (1769-1849), 8807/13-8807/25: nine autograph letters (addressees include Isambard Kingdom, C. Paisley, R. E. Chatham, J. Walker, Ellicombe, some unknown) and four detached signatures.

Five items pertain to Isambard Brunel Junior (1837-1902), 8807/26-8807/30, signing letters as "I. Brunel": four autograph letters (three to Charles Manby, civil engineer and one to J. M. Stones), one with a telegram enclosed.

Purchased from: Sotheby's, London, July 1931 (acc.57468), February 1933 (acc.65821), February 1930 (acc.52479), November 1933 (acc.67469), February 1932 (acc.76066), February 1932 (acc.76088); Stevens, London, August 1931 (acc.68249), April 1931 (acc.68150), July 1930 (acc.56545); Mrs. Barrett, London, March 1930 (acc.91327); Mrs. Watson, Burnley, March 1945 (acc.72200), presumably once part of the Thomas Madden Stone autograph collection.

Some material transferred from Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, c.1939 (acc.91800); provenance details not recorded (acc.67430).

Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, FRS FRSE (25 April 1769 – 12 December 1849) was a French-born engineer, the son of a Norman farmer, who settled in England. He married Elisabeth Kingdom in 1799, an English orphan he had previously met in Rouen. His most famous achievement was the construction of the Thames Tunnel, opened in 1842 and currently used by East London Line.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859), the son of Marc, was an English mechanical and civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering.

Isambard Brunel Junior (1837[38?]-1902), a lawyer, was one of three children of Isambard.

At Wellcome Collection:

MS.7844/1-96; MS.8648; MS.8478; MSS.5274-5275; MS.7685/1-9; MS.7472; MS.8479.