Sir John Rennie
FRSA (30 August 1794 – 3 September 1874) was the second son of engineer
John Rennie the Elder
John Rennie FRSE FRS (7 June 1761 – 4 October 1821) was a Scottish civil engineer who designed many bridges, canals, docks and warehouses, and a pioneer in the use of structural cast-iron.
Early years
He was born the younger son of James ...
, and brother of
George Rennie.
Early life
John Rennie was born at 27 Stamford Street, Blackfriars Road, London, on 30 August 1794. He was educated by Dr. Greenlaw at
Isleworth
Isleworth ( ) is a town located within the London Borough of Hounslow in West London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane, London, River Crane. Isleworth's or ...
, and afterwards by Dr. Charles Burney at
Greenwich. He subsequently entered his father's manufactory in Holland Street, Blackfriars Road, where he acquired a practical knowledge of his profession, and in 1813 he was placed under Mr. Hollingsworth, resident engineer of
Waterloo Bridge, the foundations of which he personally superintended. In 1815 he assisted his father in the erection of
Southwark Bridge, and in 1819 he went abroad for the purpose of studying the great engineering works on the continent.
J. & G. Rennie
On the death of his father in 1821, John remained in partnership with his brother George, the civil engineering portion of the business being carried on by him, whereas the mechanical engineering was supervised by George.
Royal William Victualling Yard
Rennie along with Philip Richards designed
Royal William Victualling Yard
The Royal William Victualling Yard in Stonehouse, a suburb of Plymouth, England, was the major victualling depot of the Royal Navy and an important adjunct of Devonport Dockyard. It was designed by the architect Sir John Rennie and was named a ...
, Plymouth, (1823–33). Covering , this grand classical style ensemble built from
Plymouth limestone
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
and
Dartmoor granite
Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers .
The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferou ...
, consists of a grand gateway surmounted by a statue of
King William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...
. There is the Slaughterhouse, then around a central dock basin, to the south, Melville Square - a warehouse with a central courtyard - it has a clock tower over the main entrance; to the west of the basin is the Bakery with its mill and to the east the Brewery, with its
cooperage
A cooper is a person trained to make wooden casks, barrels, vats, buckets, tubs, troughs and other similar containers from timber staves that were usually heated or steamed to make them pliable.
Journeymen coopers also traditionally made ...
.
Cannon Workshops
Rennie also was responsible for designing
Cannon Workshops
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder dur ...
, which arose following the strike by the coopers employed by the
West India Dock Company. The company decided to reorganise the cooperage Department, and Rennie drew up the plans, submitting them in 1824. The buildings were completed in 1825.
Bridges and marine engineering
The most important of John Rennie's undertakings, from 1824, was the construction of
London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...
, the designs for which had been prepared by his father. The bridge was opened in 1831, when Rennie was knighted, being the first of the profession since Sir
Hugh Myddleton to be thus distinguished. He was responsible for the New
River Ancholme Drainage Scheme in
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
, and
Horkstow Bridge
Horkstow Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the New River Ancholme near the village of Horkstow in North Lincolnshire. It was designed by Sir John Rennie as part of the River Ancholme Drainage Scheme, completed in 1836, and is a Grade II* ...
, which he designed to cross the river at Horkstow in 1835–6, is one of the earliest
suspension bridge
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...
s to survive and remains substantially as designed.
North Lincolnshire Community Website, Horkstow Bridge
accessed 9 August 2009 As engineer to the Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
* Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
* Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
*Admiralty, Tr ...
, a post in which he succeeded his father, he completed various works at Sheerness
Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby town ...
, Woolwich
Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...
, Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
, Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...
, and the great breakwater at Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
, of which he published an 'Account' in 1848. Many years of his life were spent in making additions and alterations to various harbours on different parts of the coast, both in England and in Ireland. One example would be his work in the 1850s designing a drydock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
for Joseph Wheeler at his Rushbrooke Rushbrook is a surname. The surname derives from Rushbrooke in Suffolk, England. Notable people with the surname include:
* Claire Rushbrook (born 1971), English actress
* Philip Rushbrook, governor of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
...
yard in Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
. He completed the drainage works in the Lincolnshire fens commenced by his father, and, in conjunction with Telford, constructed the Nene outfall near Wisbech
Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...
(1826–1831). He also restored the harbour of Boston in 1827–8, and made various improvements on the Welland
Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750.
The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-o ...
. He also re-modernised the Chatham Dockyards in 1862. Creating 3 huge basins and passageways.
Railway engineering
Although Rennie and his brother were early in the field as a railway engineers – having been involved, with George Stephenson, in the design of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway – their practice in this department was not very large. The company did however supply a number of locomotives for the London and Croydon Railway
The London and Croydon Railway (L&CR) was an early railway in England. It opened in 1839 and in February 1846 merged with other railways to form the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR).
Origins
The Croydon line and other railways
Th ...
in 1838 and 1839. In 1852 John laid out a system of railways for Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, for which he received the order of Gustavus Vasa, and in 1855 he designed a series of railways and harbours for Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, none of which were, however, carried out.
Institution of Civil Engineers
Rennie was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 25 June 1844, and he became president on 21 January 1845, retaining the office for three years. His presidential address in 1846 was a complete history of the profession of civil engineering. He also contributed papers on the drainage of the level of Ancholme
The River Ancholme is a river in Lincolnshire, England, and a tributary of the Humber.
It rises at Ancholme Head, a spring just north of the village of Ingham and immediately west of the Roman Road, Ermine Street. It flows east and then north ...
, Lincolnshire, and on the improvement of the navigation of the Newry. He published, besides his ''Account of Plymouth Breakwater'', (1848), the ''Theory, Formation, and Construction of British and Foreign Harbours'' (1851–54). He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...
.
Retirement and death
Rennie retired from the active duties of his profession about 1862, and died at Bengeo
Bengeo is a suburb and former village and civil parish on the northwest edge of the county town of Hertford in Hertfordshire, England. It is an electoral ward of Hertford. In 1891 the parish had a population of 2586. In 1894 the parish was abol ...
, near Hertford
Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census.
The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...
, on 3 September 1874, just after completing his 80th year.
He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
on the edge of a southern spur path. The grave has a new plaque to compensate for the original worn slab.
References
Attribution:
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rennie, John
1794 births
1874 deaths
English civil engineers
Fellows of the Royal Society
British railway pioneers
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Presidents of the Institution of Civil Engineers
Presidents of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers
19th-century British businesspeople