Colour photograph of a portrait of Bryan Donkin

Bryan Donkin (1768-1855) was brought up in Sandhoe in the county of Northumberland, England, the son of a surveyor and land agent. He showed an early aptitude for engineering but at first he followed in his father's footsteps, working as bailiff for the Duke of Dorset at Knole House in the county of Kent. In 1792, however, he began working for John Hall, a millwright of Dartford, Kent, who trained him in engineering.

By 1801, John Hall was millwright to the Fourdriniers, who owned a paper mill in Kent. At the time, paper was still made by hand, but Hall was commissioned by a Frenchman named Leger Didot and Didot's English brother in law John Gamble, to assemble a paper making machine which had been newly invented in France by Nicolas-Louis Robert. Bryan Donkin took this machine and made a series of improvements which led to Donkin's paper making machinery being installed at the Fourdriniers' paper mill in 1804. Further improvements over the next few years led to Bryan Donkin setting up his own company in Bermondsey, London, manufacturing the Fourdrinier machine, as it became known.

Donkin was a highly successful and well respected in both mechanical and civil engineering. At the same time that he was working on paper making machines, he developed a process of canning food in metal cans, opening the world's first cannery in 1813. He was consulted by many eminent figures of the day, including Charles Babbage to assist with making his 'Difference Engine', Thomas Telford and Marc Brunel. He was one of the founders of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Royal Astronomical Society.

Donkin retired from his business in 1846 at the age of 78. He died in London in 1855 and is buried in Nunhead Cemetery.