He was the only son of Marc Isambard Brunel (1769-1849), a royalist who fled the French Revolution and built a career as a mechanical engineer in London.<ref> Father and son were both called Isambard, an old family name.</ref> The father is best known for the Thames Tunnel, the first major underwater tunnel.<ref> See Thames Tunnel Company, ''An explanation of the works of the tunnel under the Thames from Rotherhithe to Wapping'' (1840) online at [http://books.google.com/books?id=KH8HAAAAQAAJ&dq=intitle:tunnel&num=30&as_brr=1] </ref> The son at age 14 was sent to France for schooling, but failed the admission test for the Ecole Polytechnique, studied watchmaking in Paris; he returned to London to apprentice with his father. He was badly injured in an 1828 accident on the Thames Tunnel project. | He was the only son of Marc Isambard Brunel (1769-1849), a royalist who fled the French Revolution and built a career as a mechanical engineer in London.<ref> Father and son were both called Isambard, an old family name.</ref> The father is best known for the Thames Tunnel, the first major underwater tunnel.<ref> See Thames Tunnel Company, ''An explanation of the works of the tunnel under the Thames from Rotherhithe to Wapping'' (1840) online at [http://books.google.com/books?id=KH8HAAAAQAAJ&dq=intitle:tunnel&num=30&as_brr=1] </ref> The son at age 14 was sent to France for schooling, but failed the admission test for the Ecole Polytechnique, studied watchmaking in Paris; he returned to London to apprentice with his father. He was badly injured in an 1828 accident on the Thames Tunnel project. |