Grand Deacon of England. In 1899 Brunner (who had by then been created a baronet) became chairman of the Runcorn and Widnes Transporter Bridge Company. He subscribed £25,000 (£ in ) towards its construction plus a loan of £12,000 (£ in ) together with a personal guarantee on a bank loan of £31,000 (£ in ). When the building of the bridge was complete in 1905 it was due to be opened by Edward VII, but the king was unable to attend, and so Brunner performed the ceremony himself. By 1911 it had become apparent that the bridge would always operate at a loss, and Brunner assigned his interest in it to Widnes Corporation. The Times stated that this action amounted to a "virtual gift of £68,000" (£ in ). Personal life 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. In 1891 the Brunners moved from Winnington Hall to Wavertree, a suburb of Liverpool. Amongst other offices held, he was Vice-President of the British Science Guild, Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Lancashire (from 1904) and Pro-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool. In 1909 the University of Liverpool awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In 1895 he was made the Baronet of Druids Cross in the County of Lancashire and in 1906 he became a member of the privy council, but he declined offers of a peerage. He died in 1919 at his home in Chertsey, Surrey. His estate amounted to over £906,000 (£ in ). In addition, he had given generously to his five married daughters, and had transferred