George Rennie 1791 - 1866
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Mr George Rennie
Courtesy Liverpool John Moores University |
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George Rennie made his name as a railway engineer, with achievements including the London & Brighton Railway.
He also designed several locomotives and later found some success in marine engineering.
He also helped on the Brunel's Thames Tunnel Crossing project, it was here that he no doubt met up with William Gravatt.
It was Rennie that had constructed the very long tube of Craig's telescope.
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George Rennie was born in Blackfriars Road in London, on 3 December 1791. He was educated at Isleworth by Dr. Greenlaw, and was subsequently sent to St. Paul's School and then to the University of Edinburgh.
In 1811 he entered his father's office, where many great works were in progress. In 1818, on the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks and James Watt, he was appointed inspector of machinery and clerk of the irons, better known as the dies, at the Royal Mint, which post he held for nearly eight years.
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Messrs Rennie's works in Blackfriars, London. It was perhaps here that parts of the telescope's tube may have been fabricated.
Courtesy National Maritime Museum
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Rennie constructed the tube of ther Craig Telescope using large curved steel panels rivetted together along seams.
Courtesy Greg Smye-Rumsby |
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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 in Chester over the river Dee at Chester.
He married, in 1828, Margaret Anne, daughter of Sir John Jackson, 1st Baronet, M.P.
In 1830, the brothers were involved in the construction of George Stephenson's Liverpool and Manchester Railway. He had considerable practice as a railway engineer, and made plans for lines to connect Birmingham and Liverpool, the Vale of Clwyd line, the railway from Mons to Manege, and the Namur and Liege railway, of which he was appointed chief engineer in 1846.
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. The brothers also constructed some locomotives for the London and Croydon Railway. Many orders for foreign governments were executed, and the firm were employed by the Admiralty in making engines for the Royal Navy. He was much interested in the screw-propeller, and his firm built the engines for the Archimedes, in which Sir Francis Pettit Smith's screw was tried. Subsequently, in 1840, the firm built for the Admiralty the Dwarf, the first vessel in the British navy propelled by a screw.
In 1822 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, and contributed papers to the Transactions in 1829 on the friction of metals and other substances. He also presented papers to the British Association and to the Institution of Civil Engineers, of which body he was elected a member in 1841.
He died on 30 March 1866, at his house, 39 Wilton Crescent, from the effects of an accident in the street in the previous year, and was buried on 6 April at Holmwood, near Dorking. His wife survived him; they had two sons and one daughter.
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John Rennie - Father of Sir John and George. He served as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1845 - 1848
courtesy Wikipedia
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