Henry Marc Brunel was the second son of the celebrated English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 engineer

Engineer

An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...

, and followed his father's footsteps in becoming a civil engineer

Civil engineer

A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...

.

Brunel attended King's College London

King's College London

King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...

 from 1859–1861, and afterward attained experience in civil engineering through serving out various apprenticeships. He developed an interest in acting as a hobby, becoming a member of the Scientific and Amateur Dramatic Societies, and also contributed to his brother's biography of their father (The Life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer, 1870).

Brunel is noted for a partnership from 1878 with Sir John Wolfe-Barry

John Wolfe-Barry

Sir John Wolfe-Barry was an English civil engineer of the late 19th and early 20th century. His most famous project was the construction of Tower Bridge over the River Thames in London.-Early career:...

, with whom he designed the Blackfriars Railway Bridge

Blackfriars Railway Bridge

Blackfriars Railway Bridge is a railway bridge crossing the River Thames in London, between Blackfriars Bridge and the Millennium Bridge.There have been two structures with the name. The first bridge was opened in 1864 and was designed by Joseph Cubitt for the London, Chatham and Dover Railway...

 over the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 in central London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. Their other works included the docks at Barry

Barry, Wales

Barry is a town and community in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. Located along the northern coast of the Bristol Channel less than south-southwest of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the Barry Island Pleasure Park...

 in south Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 and the Creagan Bridge, a railway bridge over the narrows of Loch Creran

Loch Creran

Loch Creran is a sea loch in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland. It is about long from its head at Invercreran to its mouth on the Lynn of Lorne, part of Loch Linnhe. The loch separates the areas of Benderloch to the south and Appin to the north. The island of Eriska lies at the mouth of the...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 (jointly credited to Wolfe-Barry, Brunel and E.M. Crutwell). Sir Alexander Gibb

Alexander Gibb

Brigadier-General Sir Alexander Gibb GBE CB FRS was a Scottish civil engineer.Gibb was born in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, the son of the civil engineer, Alexander Easton Gibb, and the grandson of John Gibb, a founder member of the Institution of Civil Engineers...

 was a pupil of Brunel and Wolfe-Barry in 1895.

He also designed the SS Chauncy Maples

SS Chauncy Maples

MV Chauncy Maples is a motor ship and former steamship that was launched in 1901 as SS Chauncy Maples. She has spent her entire career on Lake Malawi and is regarded as the oldest ship in Africa...

, which was built in Glasgow in 1899 and transported overland to Lake Nyasa in Africa, where it served for more than one hundred years as a mission and hospital clinic.

Brunel is buried with his father, grandfather, and other family members at Kensal Green Cemetery in London.