Simon Jacques Rochard, 1798 - 1857 Portrait of George Rennie 1791–1866

Simon Jacques Rochard, 1798 - 1857

Portrait of George Rennie 1791–1866

oil on canvas

92 x 71 cm. (36 x 28 in.)

Rennie, George (1791–1866), mechanical and civil engineer, was born in the parish of Christ Church, Southwark, London, on 3 December 1791, the eldest son of John Rennie (1761–1821) and his wife, Martha Ann, daughter of E. Mackintosh. He was the brother of Sir John Rennie. Educated first by Dr Greenlaw at a school in Isleworth, he then went to St Paul's School. In 1807 his father sent him to Edinburgh University, where he lodged with John Playfair, the professor of natural philosophy, and studied mathematics, natural sciences, and classics.

In 1811 Rennie entered his father's office, where many great works were in progress. He travelled extensively in Europe, particularly Italy, familiarizing himself with continental engineering and architecture. In 1818, on the recommendation of Joseph Banks and James Watt, he was appointed inspector of machinery and clerk of the irons (that is, dies) at the Royal Mint, which post he held for nearly eight years. Well before his father's death in 1821, he was assisting him in bridge design. Rennie wrote a diary of progress on Waterloo Bridge, appears to have made the theoretical calculations for the iron arches of Southwark Bridge, and claimed to have made the original design for London Bridge in 1820. His government appointment precluded him from acting as engineer to London Bridge (built in 1823–31), however, so that honour and a knighthood went to his brother John, although George wrote the description of the bridge for Cooke's Views of the Old and New London Bridges (1833). During the 1820s he designed the bridge over the Serpentine in Hyde Park and materially improved Thomas Harrison's design for Grosvenor Bridge over the Dee in Chester. He designed the stone replacement for Thomas Wilson's iron bridge at Staines (1829–32). Other civil engineering schemes reported on included a proposal for Collier's Dock in the Isle of Dogs (1824), Denver sluice (1829), and Sunderland docks (1832). Rennie married, in 1828, Margaret Anne, daughter of Sir John Jackson, bt, MP; they had two sons and one daughter.

Rennie later 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 Manège, and the Namur and Liège Railway, of which he was appointed chief engineer in 1846. He was consulted about the Liverpool and Manchester Railway following the parliamentary failure of the first bill, and organized a new survey, giving evidence in favour of the successful scheme in 1826. Although generally associated with his younger brother Sir John, he was personally responsible for early proposals for the Midland Counties Railway (1833–6) and Central Kent Railway (1837).

Rennie's genius was chiefly mechanical. He superintended the manufacturing business of the family firm in Holland Street, Southwark, known at first as Rennie Brothers. After his brother Sir John retired from this side of the business about 1850 and George's sons, John Keith and George Banks Rennie, joined him, the firm became George Rennie & Sons and the factory was called the Albion ironworks. During its heyday a great variety of machinery was turned out, including the first biscuit-making machinery, corn and chocolate mills for Deptford victualling yard, and similar machines for the Royal William victualling yard, Plymouth. The firm also made the second tunnelling shield for Marc Isambard Brunel's Thames Tunnel (1835). Many orders for foreign governments were executed, including enormous iron dock gates for Sevastopol.

Rennie Brothers were also employed by the Admiralty in making engines for the Royal Navy, work which dovetailed with the establishment of the shipbuilding yard of J. & G. Rennie at Norman Road, Greenwi