Brunner believed that his success owed much to the "courage and independence of thought" that he derived from his Unitarian faith and recalled the influence of visits to Renshaw Street Unitarian Chapel with his father as a child. On 14 June 1864 Brunner married Salome Davies, the daughter of a Liverpool merchant with whom he had six children. Salome died on 29 January 1874 and the following year he married Jane Wyman, the daughter of a Kettering physician and the governess to his children. From this marriage three more children, all daughters, were born. On 8 September 1890 his oldest son, John, got into difficulties whilst swimming in Lake Como, Italy. He was rescued by his younger sibling, Sidney Herbert Brunner, who lost his life in the process. Sidney's body was found on 10 September and buried in Bellagio, beside the lake, the next day. https://www.ancestrylibraryedition.co.uk/boards/surnames.brunner/644 In 1891 the Brunners moved from Winnington Hall to Wavertree, a suburb of Liverpool.