R. P. Brereton

Robert Pearson Brereton (4 April 1818 – 1 September 1894), joined Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1836, aged 18, and became his chief assistant in 1844, aged 26. Brunel described him as "a peculiarly energetic perservering young man".

He worked on the Royal Albert Bridge across the River Tamar 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. He is depicted with a black eye patch in a mural in the Hayward Room of the SS Great Britain in Bristol.

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

R. P. Brereton came from a Norfolk family that produced other notable Victorian engineers Cuthbert A. Brereton (Sir John Wolfe Barry's partner) and R.M. Brereton chief engineer on the Bombay, Nagpore, and Calcutta portion of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, 1867-70, and advocate in the US Congress for the building of irrigation canals in California.