French father Civil Engineer Marc Isambard Brunel, English mother, Sophia Kingdom, son Isambard Kingdom Brunel born 1806 at Portsmouth, England, married Mary Elizabeth Horsley in 1836, resulting in 3 children, two boys and a girl, a heavy smoker he died in 1859 at the age of 53 of nephritis. Isambard Kingdom Brunel is shown standing before the launching chains of the Great Eastern - 1858 Robert Howlett - Metropolitan Museum of Art.