Isambard Kingdom Brunel died on 15 September 1859, aged 53. He had suffered a stroke shortly before his death and had been in poor health while working on his final major ship, the Great Eastern.

Brunel’s career covered railways, bridges, tunnels and ships. As engineer of the Great Western Railway, he helped develop the route linking London with Bristol and designed many of its structures. His ships included the Great Western, Great Britain and Great Eastern.

The Great Britain, launched in Bristol in 1843, combined an iron hull with screw propulsion in a large ocean-going steamship. The Great Eastern was larger still and was intended to travel long distances without regularly stopping for coal. Its construction proved difficult and expensive.

Brunel did not see all his projects through to completion. The Clifton Suspension Bridge, which he had designed decades earlier, remained unfinished when he died. Work later resumed, and the bridge opened in 1864.

His death ended an engineering career of little more than three decades.