Marc Isambard Brunel Biography

Brunel works with Henry Maudslay to produce models and machinery for the manufacture of ships' pulley blocks.

Brunel lands at Falmouth and travels to London to pursue his engineering proposals.

Brunel marries Sophia Kingdom after the couple are reunited in London.

Brunel obtains a patent covering machinery for manufacturing ships' pulley blocks.

Samuel Bentham recommends installation of Brunel's block-making machinery at Portsmouth Dockyard.

The first series of Brunel's machines is installed to manufacture medium-sized pulley blocks.

A second series of Brunel's machines is installed to manufacture smaller pulley blocks.

A third series of machines for large pulley blocks completes the main block-making installation.

Brunel's son Isambard Kingdom Brunel is born and later becomes a leading civil and mechanical engineer.

The block-making plant is judged capable of meeting the Royal Navy's full requirement for pulley blocks.

The Portsmouth Block Mills produce about one hundred and thirty thousand pulley blocks using Brunel's mechanised system.

The Admiralty agrees a substantial payment to Brunel for the savings created by his block-making machinery.

Brunel recommends installing a steam-powered sawmill at Chatham Dockyard to replace manual saw-pit labour.

Brunel operates a mechanised sawmill at Battersea designed to cut timber and manufacture veneers.

Brunel proposes a tunnel beneath the River Neva at Saint Petersburg and continues developing protected tunnelling methods.

Brunel is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his engineering achievements.

Brunel's mechanised sawmill is destroyed by fire, contributing to his later financial difficulties.

The Battersea sawmill is rebuilt and Brunel resumes work on mechanised timber processing.

Brunel patents a tunnelling shield that allows miners to excavate in protected compartments while brickwork is built behind them.

Financial losses and unpaid obligations lead to Brunel's imprisonment for debt in the King's Bench Prison.

The government grants money to clear Brunel's debts after concern that he may leave Britain to work in Russia.

Brunel prepares a plan for a tunnel between Rotherhithe and Wapping using his patented tunnelling shield.

The proposed Thames Tunnel Company is announced after Brunel presents his scheme to supporters and investors.

Parliament incorporates the Thames Tunnel Company and authorises construction of the river crossing.

Construction begins ceremonially on Brunel's tunnel beneath the River Thames.

The sinking shaft is completed and Brunel's tunnelling shield is assembled beneath the Rotherhithe site.

The River Thames breaks into the workings and Brunel directs efforts to save the tunnel and repair the breach.

A major flood kills six workers, seriously injures Isambard Kingdom Brunel and forces suspension of the tunnel works.

A government loan provides the Thames Tunnel Company with funds needed to resume construction.

A larger improved tunnelling shield is assembled and excavation beneath the Thames resumes.

Queen Victoria knights Marc Isambard Brunel in recognition of his engineering work and the approaching completion of the Thames Tunnel.

Excavation reaches the Wapping side and the main tunnelling work beneath the Thames is completed.

The Thames Tunnel opens to the public as the first successful tunnel beneath a navigable river.

Sir Marc Isambard Brunel dies in Westminster after a career in civil and mechanical engineering.