Title
Accounts and Receipts of Sir John Rennie
Reference
RENN
Production date
1838 - 1848
Creator
- Rennie, JohnBiographyBiography
Sir John Rennie (1794-1874), the younger son of John Rennie, Civil Engineer, was born in London. He constructed the second London Bridge to his late father’s design and was knighted in 1831 at its opening. In 1825 Rennie and his older brother George became joint Engineers in chief of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. He worked for the Surrey, Sussex, Hants, Wilts and Somerset Railway Company. He was also appointed Engineer for the Direct Independent London and Manchester Railway, which was never completed. In 1852 he sketched out a system of railways for Sweden, and in 1855 a series of unexecuted railways and harbours for Portugal
Rennie followed his father to become an engineer to the Admiralty. He carried out various works at Sheerness, Woolwich, Plymouth, Portsmouth, and Ramsgate. Rennie was primarily a hydraulics engineer, and much of his career was spent in adding to or altering commercial harbours and docks. In Britain these included important docks at Whitehaven and Cardiff; abroad, he built the Ponte Delgada breakwater for orange-trade boats in the Azores. He completed the drainage works in the Lincolnshire fens commenced by his father and, in conjunction with Telford, constructed the Nene outfall near Wisbech (1826–31). He also restored the harbour of Boston (Lincolnshire) in 1827–8. Rennie also contributed to J. and G. Rennie shipbuilding yard in Greenwich.
Rennie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1823 and of the Zoological Society in 1825. He joined the Institution of Civil Engineers only in 1844 and was its president in 1845–8. He retired about 1863 and died at Bengeo, near Hertford.
Scope and Content
Accounts and receipts of Sir John Rennie to various railway companies regarding surveying work; for attending before House of Commons Committee regarding Drainage Bills; from various stationary and tool manufacturers to Sir John Rennie.
Extent
1 file containing 109 documents
Physical description
Good condition
Language
English
Archival history
Records were donated to the National Railway Museum from the Bank of England in 1987. It was not clear how the papers were acquired by the Bank, however it was deemed likely that they were inadvertently included in a transfer material in the 1930s
Level of description
TOP
Repository name
National Railway Museum, York
Associated people and organisations
- Liverpool & Manchester Railway CoBiographyBiography
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was first proposed by William James and Joseph Sanders in 1821. In 1826 George Stephenson was appointed chief engineer. The company originally intended to use fixed locomotives to pull freight trains between Liverpool and Manchester, but following the Rainhill Trial competition of 6 October 1829, locomotives in the style of Stephenson's Rocket were commissioned. The company opened the line between Liverpool and Manchester on 15 September 1830. The first passengers travelled along the line two days later and goods on 1 December. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was absorbed into the Grand Junction Railway on 8 August 1845.
- Surrey, Sussex, Hants, Wilts and Somerset Railway Company
- Direct Independent London and Manchester Railway Company
- Institution of Civil EngineersBiographyBiography
In 1818 a small group of young engineers met in a London coffee shop and founded the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the world’s first professional engineering body.
They had hoped that lots of engineers from different engineering backgrounds would join the institution. However, civil engineering hadn't really become an official profession yet. Before the 18th century most engineers were in the armed forces.
After two years of struggling to attract new members, ICE asked Thomas Telford to become its first President. Telford’s appointment gave the institution a boost and played a huge part in shaping ICE as it is today. ICE was granted a Royal Charter in 1828 and has subsequently become home to many of history’s greatest engineers as presidents and members. Today it has 92,000 members around the world.
Subject
Conditions governing access
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Conditions governing Reproduction
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Appraisal
None