Robert Pearson Brereton (4 April 1818 – 1 September 1894) joined 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...

 in 1836, aged 18, and became his chief assistant in 1844, aged 26. Brunel described him as "a peculiarly energetic persevering young man".

He worked on the Royal Albert Bridge

Royal Albert Bridge

The Royal Albert Bridge is a railway bridge that spans the River Tamar in the United Kingdom between Plymouth, on the Devon bank, and Saltash on the Cornish bank. Its unique design consists of two lenticular iron trusses above the water, with conventional plate-girder approach spans. This gives...

 across the River Tamar

River Tamar

The Tamar is a river in South West England, that forms most of the border between Devon and Cornwall . It is one of several British rivers whose ancient name is assumed to be derived from a prehistoric river word apparently meaning "dark flowing" and which it shares with the River Thames.The...

 at Saltash, and supervised nearly all stages of construction because Brunel was first too busy then too ill to attend.

Brereton took over responsibility for completing various projects when Brunel died in 1859, finishing the West Somerset railway in 1862.

The young Brereton had lost an eye in an explosion while working at Paddington on the Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

. He is depicted with a black eye patch in a mural in the Hayward Room of the SS Great Britain

SS Great Britain

SS Great Britain was an advanced passenger steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Great Western Steamship Company's transatlantic service between Bristol and New York. While other ships had previously been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller, Great Britain was the first...

 in Bristol.

There is a memorial brass to Brereton in the church in Blakeney

Blakeney, Norfolk

Blakeney is a coastal village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Blakeney lies within the Norfolk Coast AONB and the North Norfolk Heritage Coast. The North Norfolk Coastal Path passes through the village...

.

R. P. Brereton came from a Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

 family that produced other notable Victorian engineers Cuthbert A. Brereton

Cuthbert A. Brereton

Cuthbert Arthur Brereton was a civil engineer and a partner of Sir John Wolfe Barry. Together they completed numerous projects in England and Wales, the most prominent being the King Edward VII Bridge over the Thames at Kew, London.Also with Barry he had been involved with the construction of...

 (Sir John Wolfe Barry's

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:...

 partner) and R.M. Brereton

Robert Maitland Brereton

Robert Maitland Brereton was an English railway engineer in India. In the United States he helped secure the first Act of Congress for the irrigation of California.-Engineering training:...

 chief engineer on the Bombay, Nagpore, and Calcutta portion of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway

Great Indian Peninsular Railway

The Great Indian Peninsula Railway was a predecessor of the Indian Central Railway, whose headquarters was at the Boree Bunder in Bombay . The Great Indian Peninsula Railway was incorporated on August 1, 1849 by an act of the British Parliament. It had a share capital of 50,000 pounds...

, 1867-70, and advocate in the US Congress for the building of irrigation canals in California.