 Gilbert R. Blount

Gilbert Robert Blount (1819–1876) was born at Mapledurham, near Reading, on 2 March 1819, the second child and son of Michael Joseph Blount and his wife Catherine (nee Wright).Blount was educated at Downside in Somerset, (from September 1834 until December 1836), and he began his professional training as a civil engineer with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, working on the construction of the Thames Tunnel (Rotherhythe to Wapping).