Robert Howlett in this feat of engineering. This project included the well-known portrait of the "Great Eastern"’s creator and engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, standing in front of the giant launching chains on the 'checking drum' braking mechanism at John Scott Russell’s Millwall shipyard. It was taken to celebrate the launch of the world’s largest steamship, in November 1857. This image, which depicts Brunel in an industrial setting instead of a more traditional background for a portrait, has been described as "one of the first examples of environmental portraiture". Howlett died in 1858, aged 27, at his home and studio at 10 Bedford
Bristol Brunel Academy Bristol Brunel Academy Bristol Brunel Academy is a mixed gender Secondary Academy, located in Speedwell in the ward of Hillfields, Bristol, England. The academy is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The Academy is part of the Cabot Learning Federation which is sponsored by the University of the West of England and Rolls-Royce. The site was originally the location of 2 single sex schools which became a mixed sex school called Speedwell Secondary School in the 1960s. A large part of the school burnt down in the mid 1970s, temporary classrooms were used while the school was rebuilt. The school became