 Thomas Brunner was born in Oxford , England , in April 1821 , and baptised four months later on 22 August . He was the oldest son of William Brunner , an Oxford attorney who was also the county coroner . He was of Swiss descent , his father 's parents having emigrated to England at the time of the French Revolution . The Brunner family were active in the Oxford community , Thomas ' parents raising him and his siblings to appreciate cultural and charitable activities . In 1836 , at the age of fifteen , Brunner was apprenticed to an architect , Thomas <unk> , to learn architecture and surveying . Over the next five years , he became proficient in both skills . 
