Isambard Kingdom Brunel is probably the most famous engineer of the nineteenth century. He may have been the best. Or not. Another lesser-known Brunel is in the running for that title; his father, Marc Isambard Brunel is.

“The Brunels, Father and Son,” by Anthony Burton, is a joint biography of two remarkable men. Burton does a compare-and-contrast on the pair. He concludes it is hard to say who was better.

Isambard Kingdom was best known for building the Great Western Railroad (with its six-foot gauge) and three pioneer steamships, Great Western, Great Britain, and Great Eastern. Marc Isambard’s signature accomplishment was the Thames Tunnel, which baffled earlier engineers. He is also known for pioneering mass-production techniques, most notably blocks and army boots.

Burton’s biography follows the lives of both men. Marc was born in France. A Royalist, he was forced to flee the revolution, ending up in the United States. Burton shows his successes there. He designed canals, became the chief engineer of the City of New York, and submitted an impressive design for the Capitol in Washington D.C.

He left the United States for greater opportunities – and love. His family had sheltered Englishwoman Sophia Kingdom while she was in France during the Revolution. The two were taken with each other. Alexander Hamilton had made Marc aware that the Royal Navy had a shortage of blocks, used to manipulate rigging. Marc had a way to mass-produce them. With a way to support himself in Britain, he reunited with Sophia, marrying her. He really did live happily ever after with her, while helping the British defeat Revolutionary France.

His son, Isambard Kingdom, was one fruit of the marriage. He worked alongside his father for many years. Besides the Thames Tunnel the pair worked on bridges, canals, and buildings. While Isambard eventually went off on his own, it was not because he did not get along with his father. Rather, the two were so successful they each pursued their own interests. They continued collaborating until Marc’s death.

“The Brunels, Father and Son” is a delightful book. Burton highlights the accomplishments of each man, while showing how the two complemented and assisted each other. He captures both the good and the bad times that each experienced as well as their successes and failures. He also shows how both helped shape the industrial age and illustrates how their legacy continues even in this century.

“The Brunels, Father and Son,” by Anthony Burton, Pen and Sword Transport, 2022, 232 pages, $49.95 (Hardcover), $29.99 (Ebook)
This review was written by Mark Lardas who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.

Anthony Burton is well-known and respected by transport nerds like me. His works, The Canal Builders and The Railway Builders sit on many bookshelves, well thumbed. He has now written a book about the astonishingly creative father and son duo, Marc and Isambard Brunel.

Although many people will know of at least one of Isambard’s achievements: building the Great Western railway; designing the Clifton Suspension Bridge; the Great Eastern steamship, fewer will be able to cite one of Marc’s – maybe the Thames Tunnel, still in use every day by the London Overground; but probably not the automation of cutting blocks for sailing ships or machinery for making boots for the British Army that lasted longer than a day’s march. The book presents a stream of projects that Marc and Isambard worked upon, mostly separately but sometimes jointly. The sheer breadth of their ability is awe-inspiring: railways, ships, bridges, boots. I loved the throwaway line “Among Brunel’s friends at this time was Alexander Hamilton…” It was a dinner-party conversation with another of Hamilton’s guests that inspired Brunel to design the blockmaking machine. You may wonder why a machine to make blocks for sailing ships was a big deal? A frigate required 1,500 of them. The British Navy needed 100,000 a year – and they were all being carved by hand until Marc Brunel made his machine.

Burton’s work is highly readable. It offers 200+ pages of information, presented with Burton’s lightly worn in-depth expertise. Although I thought there would be episodes that dragged, there weren’t. This is the closest any non-fiction book has come to being a page-turner, in my several years’ experience of reviewing books!

#TheBrunelsFatherandSon #NetGalley

Such an insightful and knowledgeable read. Isambard Kingdom Brunel has always been regarded as one of Britain’s great heroes and an engineering genius. His father Marc Brunel has not received the same degree of adulation, but this book will show just how important a part Marc played in his son’s works and will also look at his own great achievements. Marc Brunel arrived in Britain as a refugee from revolutionary France, after a short time working in America. He was a pioneer of mass production technology, when he invented machines for making blocks for sailing ships. He had other inventions to his name, but his greatest achievement was in constructing the very first tunnel under the Thames. Isambard spent his early years working for and with is father, who not only encouraged him but throughout his career he was also able to offer practical help. The famous viaduct that carried the Great Western Railway over the Thames at Maidenhead, for example was based on an earlier design of Marc’s. Isambard’s greatest achievements were in revolutionising the shipping industry, where hew as able to draw on his father’s experience when he served in the navy. The book not only looks at the successes of two great engineers, but also their failures. Primarily, however, it is a celebration of two extraordinary mean and their amazing achievements. Absolutely well researched and definitely recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️