Marc Isambard Brunel

Marc Isambard Brunel is born at Hacqueville in Normandy to Jean Charles Brunel and Marie-Victoire Lefebvre.

Brunel studies carpentry and develops practical skill while also showing ability in drawing and mathematics.

Brunel is sent to a seminary in Rouen for a classical education intended to prepare him for the priesthood.

Brunel enters the French Navy as a cadet after receiving instruction in naval subjects.

During naval voyages to the West Indies Brunel gains experience of ships, navigation and marine construction.

Brunel's naval service ends when his frigate pays off its crew and he returns to Normandy.

Brunel meets Sophia Kingdom, an English governess living in France, before revolutionary danger separates them.

Joins a survey of French-owned land near Lake Ontario.

Brunel flees revolutionary France and sails from Le Havre for the United States aboard the Liberty.

Begins professional surveying work soon after reaching North America.

His engineering ability brings increasing responsibility on the canal project.

Surveys a proposed canal linking the Hudson River and Lake Champlain.

Becomes chief engineer of New York while still in his twenties.

Takes responsibility for major civic and defence engineering work.

Introduces machinery for casting and boring artillery.

Applies engineering experience to strengthening New York harbour defences.

Prepares defence plans for channels around Staten Island and Long Island.

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

Continues developing mechanical inventions after arriving in Britain.

Takes out a British patent for a writing and drawing machine.

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

Brunel presents the Admiralty with his proposal to mechanise the production of ships' pulley blocks for the Royal Navy.

Brunel works with Henry Maudslay on precision models and machine components needed for his naval block-making system.

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

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

Brunel develops a linked sequence of specialised machines so pulley blocks can be produced repeatedly to standard dimensions.

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

Samuel Bentham supports installing Brunel's block machinery at Portsmouth Dockyard, moving the system toward large-scale naval use.

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.

Brunel's machinery mechanises the sawing and preparation of timber blanks used to make Royal Navy pulley blocks.

Specialised machinery cuts repeated mortises and openings in block components with greater consistency than hand production.

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

Brunel's Portsmouth system shapes pulley-block shells by machine as part of an integrated production sequence.

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 block-making system demonstrates that a small mechanised workforce can replace much larger numbers of skilled manual workers.

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

Develops mass-production equipment for footwear during the Napoleonic Wars.

Uses mechanised methods to produce large quantities of military footwear.

Patents machinery intended to mechanise the manufacture of boots.

Army demand supports Brunel's boot-manufacturing enterprise.

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 is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his mechanical and civil engineering achievements.

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

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.

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

Brunel patents a tunnelling shield divided into protected working compartments, allowing excavation and brick lining to advance together.

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.

Brunel secures financial and political support for a tunnel between Rotherhithe and Wapping using his shield method.

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.

A large brick shaft is constructed and sunk under its own weight to create the working access for the Thames Tunnel.

Brunel's shield divides the excavation face into thirty-six protected cells so miners can work while masonry is built immediately behind them.

Bricklayers construct the permanent tunnel lining directly behind the moving shield as excavation progresses beneath the Thames.

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

After the first major inundation, Brunel directs repairs from the riverbed and prepares the workings for renewed excavation.

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

Brunel prepares observations on repairing the riverbed breach and protecting workers against another sudden inundation.

France recognises Brunel's international engineering achievements.

Receives appointment to the French Legion of Honour.

Brunel joins Bryan Donkin and others in reporting to the Treasury on moving Charles Babbage's calculating engine.

Brunel corresponds with the Royal Society about engineering methods connected with recovering treasure from the wreck of HMS Thetis.

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.

A larger improved shield is assembled so excavation of the Thames Tunnel can resume after the long suspension.

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 principal excavation beneath the Thames reaches completion, leaving finishing work before the pedestrian tunnel can open.

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.