Painted by J. C. Horsley, R.A.—Engraved by T. O. Barlow.
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[Largest view]
THE LIFE
OF
ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL,
CIVIL ENGINEER.
BY
I S A M B A R D B R U N E L, B.C.L.,
OF LINCOLN’S INN;
CHANCELLOR OF THE DIOCESE OF ELY.
LONDON:
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1870.
PREFACE.
I HAVE NOT attempted to describe the events of my father’s life inchronological order beyond the end of Chapter III., which brings downthe narrative to the close of 1835, the year in which the Act wasobtained for the Great Western Railway.
Chapter IV. contains a general account of my father’s railway works,with the exception of the Bridges, which are described in Chapter VII.The history of the Broad Gauge and of the trial of the AtmosphericSystem on the South Devon Railway is given in Chapters V. and VI.
Chapters VIII.—XIII. contain an account of my father’s labours for theadvancement of Ocean Steam Navigation. It will be noted that thesechapters cover the same period as Chapters IV.—VII., namely, from 1835,the year of the commencement of the Great Western Railway and the ‘GreatWestern’ Steam-ship, to 1859, the year of his death, in which theSaltash Bridge and the ‘Great Eastern’ were both completed.
Chapters VII. (on the Bridges) and XIV. (on the Docks) have been writtenby Mr. William Bell, for many years a member of my father’s engineeringstaff; and in regard to Chapter V. (on the Broad Gauge), I have toacknowledge assistance rendered me by Mr. William Pole, F.R.S.
For the Note on the Carbonic Acid Gas Engine which follows Chapter I., Iam indebted to Mr. William Hawes; and for Chapter VI. (on theAtmospheric System) to Mr. Froude, F.R.S.
I have also printed letters, written to me at my request, relating tovarious incidents in my father’s life.
The assistance I received in the preparation of the chapters on SteamNavigation from my friend the late Captain Claxton, R.N., has beenreferred to in the note to p. 234.
I have throughout availed myself of my brother’s professional knowledge.
I have been compelled, in order to bring the work within the compass ofa single volume, to omit much that would otherwise have been inserted,and I must therefore be held responsible for the general arrangement ofthose parts which have been contributed by others, as well as for thechapters which I have written myself.
Lastly, I desire gratefull