Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Portrait of Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859), British civil engineer and ship designer. In 1825, Brunel helped his father to construct the first tunnel under the Thames in London, England. In 1830, he won the competition for a design for the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England, his first independent work. In 1833, he was appointed engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR). He designed and built the GWR railway track between London and southwest England. He later designed huge steam ships capable of crossing the Atlantic. Amongst these were the Great Britain, the Great Western, and the Great Eastern.