This is a two-part cardboard model presenting the tunnelling shield, invented by Marc Brunel in 1818 and used to dig the Thames Tunnel between 1825-43; miners and other workmen engaged in digging; the double-arches made of brickwork; and an engineer and visiting dignitary observing proceedings. The front section of the model depicting the completed brickwork arches can be entirely separated, to enable the tunnelling shield to be viewed in closer detail. The model is encased in the remains of what is assumed to be its original enclosure, with a design which mimics geological strata.
Unlike models submitted either to manufacturers or to patent authorities, which were often unique, this model was produced in a currently unknown number of copies. As far as is currently known, this is one of only two surviving copies.[1] This model has a unique provenance, being that owned by Marc Brunel himself. It is also the only example which survives in its original case.
It appears these models were produced in a small number for visiting dignitaries and for potential investors. In spring 1828, the Thames Tunnel had suffered two devastating floods. This model, which depicts a santised version of the construction site and allows for the operation of the Shield to be considered in detail, was probably intended to shore up investors’ confidence in the project. Summer 1828, indeed, consisted largely of repeated rounds of approaches by the Company in an attempt to secure further financial backing.
Evidence from archival research indicates that this model was likely made in early 1828. One model was sent to Brunel’s friend in France.[2] It is possible that one of these models was given as a gift to Don Miguel of Portugal, a few months before he became king of Portugal, when visiting the Tunnel — in which case, the models may date from late 1827.[3]
Comparison with the other extant model shows that the figures on the models are in different positions; whether they were positioned at random by the maker, or positioned by eventual owners as happened in the case of paper peepshows depicting the Tunnel, is unclear.
The models were supplied with a short explanatory booklet.[4] This was printed by the Philanthropic Society, a charity based in Southwark which taught printing to the children of convicts, or children who were themselves convicts. It is therefore likely that this model was also printed and assembled by children working at the Philanthropic Society. The same society produced guidebooks for the Thames Tunnel, suggesting the Thames Tunnel Company had a contract with them.[5]
References
[1] For the other, see Powell-Cotton Museum, Birchington-on-Sea, BICPC.OBJ.T.001.
[2] Marc Isambard Brunel to Jacques-Charles Allard, 8 June 1828, Archives Nationales, Paris, AB/XIX/3858, MS annotation by Allard: ‘écrit le 27 aout [sic] pour le remercier de son envoi d’un modèle en Carton de son Bouclier des Galleries’ (‘wrote on 27 August to thank him for sending a cardboard model of his tunnelling shield’).
[3] ‘Visit of Don Miguel to the Thames Tunnel’, The Times, 9 Jan. 1828.
[4] Absent from LDBRU:2017.31, but retained in the Powell-Cotton model.
[5] cf. e.g. LDBRU:2002.2.