George Rennie (3 December 1791 – 30 March 1866) was an
engineerEngineers are those who develop devices that serve as solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics, scientific knowledge and ingenuity while considering technical, safety and cost constraints....
born in
LondonLondon is the capital of England and the United Kingdom . It is Britain's largest and most populous metropolitan area. A major settlement for two millennia, its history goes back to its founding by the Romans, who called it Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, or the 'square mile'...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He was the son of the
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
engineer John Rennie and the brother of Sir John Rennie.
Early life
Born in the parish of Christchurch,
Blackfriars RoadBlackfriars Road is a road in Southwark, SE1. It runs between St George's Circus at the southern end and Blackfriars Bridge over the River Thames at the northern end, leading to the City of London. Halfway up on the west side is Southwark tube station, on the corner with The Cut...
,
SouthwarkSouthwark, or the Borough, is a district of South London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated east of Charing Cross.-Naming:...
,
LondonLondon is the capital of England and the United Kingdom . It is Britain's largest and most populous metropolitan area. A major settlement for two millennia, its history goes back to its founding by the Romans, who called it Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, or the 'square mile'...
, on 3 December 1791, he was educated by Dr. Greenlaw at
IsleworthIsleworth is a small town of Saxon origin sited 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. Isleworth's original area of settlement, alongside the Thames, is known as...
, and was subsequently sent to St. Paul's School and to the
University of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582, is an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland...
. In 1811 he entered his father's office, where many great works were in progress. In 1818, on the recommendation of Sir
Joseph BanksSir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa, and the genus named after him,...
and
James WattJames Watt, FRS, FRSE was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both the Kingdom of Great Britain and the world.While working as an instrument maker at the University of...
, he was appointed inspector of machinery and clerk of the irons (i.e.
diesA die is a specialized tool used in manufacturing industries to cut or shape material using a press. Like molds and stencils, dies are generally customized to the item they are used to create...
) at the
Royal MintThe Royal Mint of the United Kingdom is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but has functioned since 1975 as a Trading Fund, operating in much the same way as a government-owned company...
, which post he held for nearly eight years.
J. & G. Rennie
On the death of his father in 1821 he entered into partnership with his younger brother John, and for many years they were engaged in completing the vast undertakings originated by the elder Rennie. John concentrated on the civil engineering portion of the business, whereas George supervised the mechanical engineering. Nevertheless, about 1826 he was entrusted with the construction of the
Grosvenor Bridge (Chester)The Grosvenor Bridge is a single-span arch road bridge constructed from stone. It crosses the River Dee at Chester in England. The bridge is located on the A483 Grosvenor Road . Views upriver from the bridge include Chester castle and Handbridge. The view downstream from the bridge encompasses the...
over the
DeeThe River Dee is a long river in the United Kingdom. It travels through Wales and England and also forms part of the border between them....
at
ChesterChester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
, from the designs of
HarrisonThomas Harrison was an English architect and engineer. He built a number of bridges, including Grosvenor Bridge in Chester. He also rebuilt parts of Chester and Lancaster castles...
.
In 1830, the were involved in the construction of
George StephensonGeorge Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives, and he is renowned as being the "Father of Railways"...
's
Liverpool and Manchester RailwayThe Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the world's first inter-city passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and were hauled for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives. The line opened on 15 September 1830 and ran between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in North...
. He had considerable practice as a railway engineer, and made plans for lines to connect
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. It is the most populous British city outside London with a population of 1,016,800 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the United Kingdom's second most populous Urban Area with a population...
and
LiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, the
Vale of ClwydThe Vale of Clwyd is a tract of low-lying ground in the county of Denbighshire in northeast Wales. The Vale extends south-southwestwards from the coast of the Irish Sea for some 20 miles forming a triangle of low ground bounded on its eastern side by the well-defined scarp of the Clwydian Range...
line, the railway from
MonsMons is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital...
to
ManegeManege is the French word for a riding school and may refer to one of the following:*Salle du Manège in Paris*Moscow Manege...
, and the Namur and Liege railway, of which he was appointed chief engineer in 1846.
Mechanical engineering
George Rennie's genius was chiefly mechanical, and he superintended the manufacturing business of the firm in Holland Street, where a great variety of machinery was turned out, including the first biscuit-making machinery, corn and chocolate mills for Deptford victualling yard, and the machinery at the Royal William Victualling Yard, Plymouth. They also coonstructed some locomotives for the
London and Croydon RailwayThe London and Croydon Railway was an early railway which operated between London and Croydon in England. It was opened in 1839 and in July 1846 it merged with other railways to form a part of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway ....
. Many orders for foreign governments were executed, and the firm were employed by the
AdmiraltyThe Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
in making engines for the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 19th century until well into the 20th century it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s...
. He was much interested in the screw-propeller, and his firm built the engines for , the world's first propeller-driven steamship. Subsequently, in 1840, the firm built for the Admiralty the
Dwarf, the first vessel in the British navy propelled by a screw.
Roe (1916) discusses Rennie's contributions to the development of the
planerA planer is a type of metalworking machine tool that uses linear relative motion between the workpiece and a single-point cutting tool to machine a linear toolpath. Its cut is analogous to that of a lathe, except that it is linear instead of helical...
.
In 1822 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, and contributed papers to the Transactions in 1829 on the
frictionFriction is the force resisting the relative lateral motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, or material elements in contact. It is usually subdivided into several varieties:...
of metals and other substances. He also presented papers to the British Association and to the
Institution of Civil EngineersFounded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineers. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150 countries...
, of which body he was elected a member in 1841.
Death
He died on 30 March 1866, at his house, 39
Wilton CrescentWilton Crescent is a wealthy community in Belgravia, Knightsbridge, Kensington, London.Wilton Crescent was created by Thomas Cundy II, the Grosvenor family Estate surveyor and was drawn up with the original 1821 Wyatt plan for Belgravia. It commemorates the Grey de Wilton family...
, from the effects of an accident in the street in the previous year, and was buried on 6 April at
HolmwoodHolmwood is a civil parish in Surrey, England. The parish has a population of 850.Holmwood forms part of Mole Valley Borough Council's area; the main settlements are North Holmwood and South Holmwood both of which are bypassed by the A24 road. The smaller settlement of Mid Holmwood is alongside the...
, near
DorkingDorking is a historic market town at the foot of the North Downs approximately south of London, in Surrey, England.- History and development :...
. He married, in 1828, Margaret Anne, daughter of Sir John Jackson, 1st Baronet, M.P., who survived him; they had two sons and one daughter.