John Rennie the Elder

John Rennie ( born June 7, 1761 East Linton, East Lothian, † October 4, 1821 in London) was a Scottish civil engineer, the numerous bridges, canals and docks designed.

Life and work

The son of a farmer tinkered since early childhood and built like models. Later he was a mechanic on specialized carpenter and worked with Andrew Meikle, the inventor of the threshing machine. From 1780 to 1783 Rennie studied at Edinburgh University and then began to work as an engineer. He was employed by Boulton and Watt, the firm of James Watt and employed for five years with the construction of mills. He was a pioneer in the replacement of wooden structures by iron.

In 1791 he moved to London, where he founded his own company. Among his early projects of the Lancaster Canal (1792 started ), the navigability of the rivers Chelmer and Blackwater ( 1793), the Crinan Canal (1794 ), the Kennet and Avon Canal (1794 started ) and the drainage of the Norfolk Fens ( 1802-1810 ). During the next few years he established himself as a renowned bridge builders however. He combined stone with cast iron, creating previously unknown, flat elliptical arches. Examples include the Leeds Bridge and Waterloo Bridge (1810-1817) and the Southwark Bridge (1815-1819) in London.

1820 Rennie was appointed foreign member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.

Rennie was also responsible for the design and construction of the docks in Kingston upon Hull, Liverpool, Greenock and Leith as well as for expansion of ports and shipyards in Portsmouth, Chatham and Devonport. His last project was the construction of the London Bridge, which was begun in 1821 and junior by his son John Rennie completed. Rennie was buried in Saint Paul's Cathedral.