himself to his new office. He made friends with the great lawyers of the day, such as Eldon, Stowell, Kenyon, and Erskine, and cultivated the society of the junior members of the bar and the law students. Again, through Pitt's influence, he was appointed in 1805 dean of Winchester, and extensive repairs took place in the fabric of the cathedral under his direction. In consequence of growing infirmities, heightened probably by the premature death of his only son, he resigned the mastership of the Temple in 1827, when he wrote a touching letter of farewell to the Inns of the Inner and Middle Temple. He died at the deanery, Winchester, on 31 March 1840, in his eighty-seventh year. In 1786 he married at Winchester Sarah, eldest daughter of Sir William Blackstone, the judge, by whom he had an only son, Thomas (1787-1824) [q. v.] Rennell's reputation stood high as a scholar and divine. He was long an intimate friend of Henry Handley Norris [q. v.] and the rest of the high-churchmen who formed what was called the 'Hackney phalanx' and the 'Clapton sect.' Dr. Samuel Parr described his as 'most illustrious.' He printed nothing except a volume of sermons-Discourses on various Subjects' (1801), most of which had been previously printed separately. They are scholarly productions, and the writer shows erudition in the notes; but they must have required the fire and energy of delivery, for which he is said to have been remarkable, to acquire for him the reputation he enjoyed as a great preacher. [Ann. Register and Gent. Mag. 1840; Some Account of the Life and Writings of Thomas Rennell, 1824, republished from the Christian Remembrancer; Dr. Parr's Works, Letter to Dr. John Milner; Churton's Memoir of Joshua Watson.] J. H. O. in 1787 he employed Andrew Meikle [q. v.], the eminent millwright (to whom his brother, John Rennie, the engineer, had been apprenticed) to erect one of his drum thrashingmachines. This was driven by water. When Meikle's claims as the inventor were disputed, Rennie wrote a letter in his favour, which was printed in 'A Reply to an Address to the Public, but more particularly to the Landed Interest of Great Britain and Ireland, on the subject of the Thrashing Machine.' Rennie died on 6 Oct. 1828. He was one of the authors of A General View of the Agriculture of the West Riding of Yorkshire. . . . By Messrs. Rennie, Brown, and Shirreff,' London, 1794, 4to, written at the request of the board of agriculture. His son, George (1802-1860), is separately noticed. [Anderson's Scottish Nation; Irving's Eminent Scotsmen; Donaldson's Agricultural Biogr. p. 71.] G. S-H. RENNIE, GEORGE (1802–1860), sculptor and politician, born in 1802, was the son of George Rennie (1749-1828) [q. v.], agriculturist, of Phantassie, Haddingtonshire, and nephew of John Rennie (17611821) [q. v.], the engineer. In early life he studied sculpture at Rome, and exhibited statues and busts at the Royal Academy from 1828 to 1837. He also exhibited three times at the Suffolk Street Gallery during the same period. His most important works at the academy were: A Gleaner' and 'Grecian Archer,' 1828; 'Cupid and Hymen' and The Archer' (which he afterwards prebusts of Thorwaldsen and John Rennie, 1831; sented to the Athenæum Club) and bust of Wilkie, 1833; 'The Minstrel,' 1834; a group of four figures in marble, 1837. With a view to improving the state of the arts in this country, he turned his attention to politics. In 1836 he suggested to Sir William Ewart the formation of the parliamentary committee which led to the establishment of the schools of design at Somerset House, and assisted the efforts of Joseph Hume to obtain for the public freedom of access to all monuments and works of art in public build RENNIE, GEORGE (1749-1828), agriculturist, son of James Rennie, farmer, of Phantassie, Haddingtonshire, and elder brother of John Rennie [q. v.], the engineer, was born on his father's farm in 1749. On leaving school he was sent by his father, at the age of sixteen, to Tweedside to make a survey of a new system of farming which had beenings and museums. He was returned for adopted by Lord Kames, Hume of Ninewells, and other landed gentry of the district. In 1765 he became superintendent of a brewery which his father had erected. The elder Rennie died in 1766, and, after leasing the business for some years, the son conducted it on a large scale from 1783 to 1797, when he finally relinquished it to a tenant. Rennie then devoted himself to the pursuit of agriculture on the Phantassie farm, and VOL. XLVIII. Ipswich, as a liberal, in 1841. At the next general election (1847) he had every prospect of success, but retired in favour of Hugh Adair. On 15 Dec. in the same year he was appointed to the governorship of the Falkland Islands, and raised that small colony from an abject condition to one of as great prosperity as its limited resources allowed; while he offered a firm resistance to the extravagant claims of the United States, with C RENNIE, GEORGE (1791-1866), civil engineer, eldest son of John Rennie [q. v.], and brother of Sir John Rennie [q. v.], was born in the parish of Christchurch, Blackfriars Road, London, on 3 Dec. 1791. He was educated by Dr. Greenlaw at Isleworth, and was subsequently sent to St. Paul's School and 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 (i.e. dies) at the royal mint, which post he held for nearly eight years. On the death of his father in 1821 he entered into partnership with his younger brother John [see RENNIE, SIR JOHN], and for many years they were engaged in completing the vast undertakings originated by the elder Rennie. About 1826 he was entrusted with the construction of the Grosvenor Bridge over the Dee at Chester, from the designs of Harrison. 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 Manège, and the Namur and Liège railway, of which he was appointed chief engineer in 1846. 1841. A list of his papers is given in the obituary notice in the Proceedings.' 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. He married, in 1828, Margaret Anne, daughter of Sir John Jackson, bart., M.P., who survived him; by her he left issue two sons and one daughter. [Obituary notice in Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, xxviii. 610; Gent. Mag. 1866, i. 749–50.] R. B. P. RENNIE, JAMES (1787-1867), naturalist, born 26 Feb. 1787, appears to have been the natural son of Thomas Rennie (or Rainey) of Aldenholme, Sorn, Ayrshire, by Margaret Edwards. He matriculated at Glasgow University in 1810, and gained prizes in logic, ethics, mathematics, and natural philosophy. He won prizes for essays on a Comparative View of the Huttonian and Wernerian Systems of Geology,' on 'Improvements in the Art of Bleaching, and the' Application of Steam to the Purposes of Navigation.' He graduated M.A. on 20 July 1815, and took holy orders. In 1821 he removed to London, and on 30 Nov. 1830 was appointed professor of natural history at King's College. The chair was, however, abolished on 1 Aug. 1834, owing to a dearth of students in the subject. Subsequently Rennie engaged in literary work without much pecuniary success. He set sail for New South Wales in 1840, and afterwards settled in South Australia. He died at Adelaide on 25 Aug. 1867. But Rennie's genius was chiefly mechanical, and he superintended the manufacturing business of the firm in Holland Street, where Rennie was author of: 1. 'Insect Archia great variety of machinery was turned out, tecture' [anon.], 12mo, London, 1830. 2. 'Inincluding the first biscuit-making machinery, sect Transformations '[anon.], 12mo, London, corn and chocolate mills for Deptford victual- 1830. 3. 'Insect Miscellanies' [anon.], 12mo, ling yard, and the machinery at the Royal London, 1831. 4. The Architecture of William Victualling Yard, Plymouth. Many Birds' [anon.], 12mo, London, 1831-reorders for foreign governments were exe-issued as 'Bird Architecture,' 1844. 5. 'Alcuted, and the firm were employed by the admiralty in making engines for the royal navy. He was much interested in the screwpropeller, 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 phabet of Insects,' 8vo, London, 1832. Rev. J. G. Wood, 1869. 15. The Handbook of Allotment Agriculture,' 16mo, London, 1834. 16. Alphabet of Natural Theology, 8vo, London, 1834. 17. Alphabet of Medical Botany,' 8vo, London, 1834. 18. The Hand-book of Gardening,' 12mo, London, 1834. 19. 'The Faculties of Birds,' 12mo, London, 1835. 20. The Menageries: the Natural History of Monkeys,' &c. [anon.], 12mo, London, 1838. 21.Bird Miscellanies,' 12mo, London, 1847. 22. Familiar Introduction to Botany,' 16mo, London, 1849. He also edited: 1. Montague's 'Ornithological Dictionary of British Birds...2nd edit., with original observations by J. Rennie,' 8vo, London, 1831. 2. The Magazine of Botany and Gardening,' 2 vols. 4to, London, 1833-4. 3. 'The Field Naturalist,' 2 vols. 8vo, London (1833-) 1835. 4. Walton's Compleat Angler,' 1836. [Information kindly supplied by the Rev. M. C. Begg, Mauchline, N.B.; W. J. Addison, of Glasgow University, and J. W. Cunningham, King's College, London; Sydney Morning Herald, 7 Sept. 1867; Athenæum, 30 Nov. 1867, p. 728; Brit. Mus. Cat. and Royal Soc. Cat.] business as a mechanical engineer on his own account in Holland Street, Blackfriars, whence he and his successors long conducted engineering operations of vast importance. On settling in London Rennie began to pay attention to the construction of canals. He carried out the works in connection with the Kennet and Avon Canal, which was his first civil-engineering undertaking in England. This was followed by the Rochdale Canal,which passes through a difficult country between Rochdale and Todmorden. He subsequently constructed the Lancaster Canal, and in 1802 he revised the plans for the Royal Canal of Ireland from Dublin to the Shannon near Longford. For many years he was engaged in extensive drainage operations in the Lincolnshire fens, and in the improvement of the River Witham. The Eau Brink Cut-a new channel for the river Ouse-was on the point of completion at the time of his death. Among the docks and harbours constructed or improved by Rennie may be mentioned the London docks, East and West India docks, Holyhead harbour, Hull docks, Ramsgate harbour, and the dockyards at Sheerness and Chatham. He devoted much time to the preparation of plans for a government dockyard at Northfleet, but they were not carried out. Rennie also attained a deserved reputation as a builder of bridges. In the earlier part of his career he built bridges at Kelso and at Musselburgh, the latter presenting a remarkable innovation in the flatness of the roadway. Most of the bridges of any length previously constructed had a considerable rise in the centre. His later efforts in this line also show that he was a skilful architect, endowed with a keen sense of beauty of design. Waterloo Bridge (1810-17), London Bridge, built from his design, though not completed until 1831 after his death, and Southwark Bridge (1815-19) best attest his skill. B. B. W. RENNIE, JOHN (1761-1821), civil engineer, youngest son of James Rennie, farmer, was born at Phantassie, Haddingtonshire, on 7 June 1761. George Rennie (1749-1828) [q. v.] was an elder brother. John showed a taste for mechanics at a very early age, and was allowed to spend much time in the workshop of Andrew Meikle, millwright, the inventor of the threshing machine, who lived at Houston Mill on the Phantassie estate [see MEIKLE, ANDREW]. After receiving a rudimentary education at the parish school of Prestonkirk, he was sent to the burgh school at Dunbar, and in November 1780 he matriculated at Edinburgh University, where he remained until 1783. He seems to have employed his vacations in working as a millwright, and so to have established a business on his own account. At this early date the The Bell Rock lighthouse, near the enoriginality of his mind was exhibited by the trance to the Friths of Forth and Tay, was introduction of cast-iron pinions instead of built during 1807 and 1810. Rennie is usually wooden trundles. In 1784 he took a journey credited with the design and execution, but south for the purpose of enlarging his know there seems little doubt that he was only ledge, visiting James Watt at Soho, Staf- nominally responsible for the great underfordshire. Watt offered him an engagement, taking. Robert Stevenson [q. v.], surveyor which he accepted, and after a short stay at to the commissioners of northern lights, drew Soho he left for London in 1784 to take charge the original plans, and at his suggestion the of the works at the Albion Flour Mills, Black- commissioners called Rennie into counsel friars, for which Boulton & Watt were build- when the works were begun, bestowing on ing a steam-engine. The machinery was all him the honorary title of chief engineer. designed by Rennie, and was the most per- Stevenson did not accept the modifications fect of its kind, a distinguishing feature being proposed by Rennie, but the two men rethe use of iron instead of wood for the shaft-mained on friendly terms. Rennie visited ing and framing. About 1791 he started in the lighthouse while it was building. Ac cording to Robert Louis Stevenson [q. v.], Stevenson's grandson, the board of northern lights paid Stevenson alone when the lighthouse was completed. When Stevenson died in 1850 the board put on record in its minutes that to him was 'due the honour of conceiving and executing the Bell Rock lighthouse.' But Rennie and his friends always claimed that the general advice which Rennie gave Stevenson entitled him to rank the building among his own achievements (see art. STEVENSON, ROBERT; A Family of Engineers' in R. L. STEVENSON's Works, Edinburgh, ed. 1896, xviii. 273-4; paper by DAVID STEVENSON in Civil Engineers' and Architects' Journal, 1862). 6 Of all Rennie's works, that which appeals most strongly to the imagination is perhaps the breakwater at Plymouth, consisting of a wall a mile in length across the Sound, in deep water, and containing 3,670,444 tons of rough stone, besides 22,149 cubic yards of masonry on the surface. This colossal work was first proposed in a report by Rennie, dated 22 April 1806; an order in council authorising its commencement was issued on 22 June 1811, and the first stone was deposited on 12 Aug. following. The work was completed by his son [see RENNIE, SIR JOHN]. Rennie was a man of unbounded resource and originality. During the improvement of Ramsgate harbour he made use of the diving-bell, which he greatly improved. He is generally credited with the invention of the present form of steam-dredging machine with a chain of buckets, but in this he seems to have been anticipated by Sir Samuel Bentham (cf. Mechanics' Magazine, xliii. 114, li. 126). But he was certainly the first to use it on an extensive scale, which he did during the construction of the Hull docks (1803-9), when he devised a steam dredger to overcome the difficulties of that particular work, and apparently without any knowledge of Bentham's invention. Another expedient was the use of hollow walls, which was suggested by the necessity of providing an extensive bearing surface for the foundations of a wall in loose ground. Walls built upon this plan were largely used by Rennie. The distinguishing characteristics of Rennie's work were firmness and solidity, and it has stood the test of time. He was most conscientious in the preparation of his reports and estimates, and he never entered upon an undertaking without making himself fully acquainted with the local surroundings. He was devoted to his profession, and, though he was a man of strong frame and capable of great endurance, his incessant labours shortened his life. He was elected F.R.S. on 29 March 1798. He died, after a short illness, at his house in Stamford Street, London, on 4 Oct. 1821, and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral. He married early in life Martha, daughter of E. Mackintosh, who predeceased him; by her he left several children, two of whom, George (1791-1866) and Sir John, are separately noticed. A portrait of Rennie from a drawing by A. Skirving, engraved by Holl, is given in Smiles's 'Life. A bust by Chantrey is in the National Portrait Gallery, London; an engraving of it was made by Reynolds. An oil painting by Raeburn belonged to Mr. W. H. Rennie. A portrait by Behnes, engraved by Thompson, was published in the European Magazine' in 1821. [Smiles's Lives of the Engineers: Smeaton and Rennie. Sir John Rennie's Autobiography contains much information concerning his father's works, but no professional life of Rennie has ever been published, although his son intended to undertake such a work. Baron Dupin's Notice Nécrologique sur John Rennie, London, 1821; Baron Dupin's Public Works and National Improvements of the British Empire, London, 1830; European Mag. (with portrait) November 1821. A complete collection of his printed reports is in the library of the Institution of Civil Engineers.] R. B. P. RENNIE, SIR JOHN (1794-1874), civil engineer, second son of John Rennie [q. v.], and brother of George Rennie (1791-1866) [q. v.], was born at 27 Stamford Street, Blackfriars Road, London, on 30 Aug. 1794. He was educated by Dr. Greenlaw at Isleworth, and afterwards by Dr. Charles Burney at Greenwich. He subsequently entered his father's manufactory in Holland Street, Blackfriars Road, where he acquired a practical knowledge of his profession, and in 1813 he was placed under Mr. Hollingsworth, resident engineer of Waterloo Bridge, the foundations of which he personally superintended. In 1815 he assisted his father in the erection of Southwark Bridge, and in 1819 he went abroad for the purpose of studying the great engineering works on the continent. On the death of his father in 1821 he remained in partnership with his brother George, the civil engineering portion of the business being carried on by him. The most important of his undertakings was the construction of London Bridge, the designs for which had been prepared by his father. The bridge was opened in 1831, when Rennie was knighted, being the first of the profession since Sir Hugh Myddleton to be thus distinguished. As engineer to the admiralty, a post in which he succeeded his father, he completed various works at Sheerness, Woolwich, Plymouth, Ramsgate, and the great breakwater at Plymouth, of which he published an Account in 1848. Many years of his life were spent in making additions and alterations to various harbours on different parts of the coast, both in England and in Ireland. He completed the drainage works in the Lincolnshire fens commenced by his father, and, in conjunction with Telford, constructed the Nene outfall near Wisbech (1826-1831). He also restored! the harbour of Boston in 1827-8, and made various improvements on the Welland. Although he was early in the field as a railway engineer, he and his brother having designed a line from Liverpool to Manchester in 1825-6, his practice in this department was not very large. In 1852 he laid out a system of railways for Sweden, for which he received the order of Gustavus Vasa, and in 1855 he designed a series of railways and harbours for Portugal, none of which were, however, carried out. Rennie was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 25 June 1844, and he became president on 21 Jan. 1845, retaining the office for three years. His presidential address in 1846 was a complete history of the profession of civil engineering (Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. v. 19). He also contributed papers on the drainage of the level of Ancholme, Lincolnshire (ib. iv. 186), and on the improvement of the navigation of the river Newry (ib. x. 277). He published, besides his 'Account of Plymouth Breakwater,' 1848, Theory, Formation, and Construction of British and Foreign Harbours,' 1851-4. Rennie was the last of his race, and formed a connecting link between the Brindleys, the Smeatons, the Rennies, and the Telfords of the old system with the Stephensons and the Brunels of the new. He retired from the active duties of his profession about 1862, and died at Bengeo, near Hertford, on 3 Sept. 1874, just after completing his eightieth year. There is a portrait by James Andrews at the Institution of Civil Engineers, Great George Street, and an engraving appears in his Autobiography.' [Rennie's Autobiography, 1875; Obituary notices in Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. xxxix. 273, and in the Engineer, 11 Sept. 1874, p. 209; the latter contains particulars of his connection with the Liverpool and Manchester railway.] R. B. P. RENNIGER or RHANGER, MICHAEL, D.D. (1530–1609), divine, born in Hampshire in 1530, received his education | at Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. Afterwards he removed to Magdalen College, Oxford, and in 1546 he proceeded B.A. in that university. He was Greek lecturer in the college from 1548 to 1550, commenced M.A. in 1549, and was appointed college lecturer in natural philosophy in 1551. During the reign of Edward VI he was distinguished as a preacher. He became rector of Broughton, Hampshire, on 14 June 1552, on the presentation of Robert Renniger, and resigned that benefice in 1557. Soon after the accession of Queen Mary he, with other members of Magdalen College who adhered to the reformed doctrines, retired to the continent and lived mainly at Strasburg, but in 1554 he was with the English exiles at Zürich. On the death of Queen Mary he returned to this country, was made one of the chaplains to Queen Elizabeth, and zealously championed the protestant religion. He was presented by the queen to the rectory of Crawley, Hampshire, on 1 Jan. 1559-60, and he was installed prebendary of Winchester on 3 Aug. 1560 (LE NEVE, Fasti, ed. Hardy, iii. 33). He was appointed chancellor of Lincoln in 1566, and precentor and prebendary of Empingham in that church on 27 June 1567. He was inducted to the subdeanery of Lincoln on 16 Oct. 1568. He resigned the precentorship, but kept the prebend of Empingham, though not without opposition, for he was installed anew on 12 Sept. 1592 on the queen's title (ib. ii. 148). On 10 Oct. 1573 he proceeded B.D. and D.D. at Oxford. He became rector of Chilbolton, Hampshire, and archdeacon of Winchester on 20 May 1575; prebendary of the sixth stall in the church of Winchester on 9 April 1581, though he resigned it two days later; and prebendary of Reculverland in the church of St. Paul, London, on 1 July 1583. He died on 26 Aug. 1609, and was buried in Crawley church. He contributed to Carmina in mortem duorum fratrum Suffolciensium, Henrici et Caroli Brandon,' London, 1552,4to. His verses are the longest in that very rare volume. He published: 1. ' De Pii Quinti et Gregorii Decimi tertii Romanorum Pontificum furoribus contra Elizabetham Angliæ, Franciæ et Hyberniæ Reginam,' London, 1582, 8vo; dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. 2. A Treatise containing two Parts: (1) An Exhortation to true Love, Loyaltie, and Fidelitie to Her Majestie; (2) A Treatise against Treasons, Rebellions, and such Disloyalties,' London, 1587, 8vo. 3. 'Syntagma Hortationum ad Jacobum Regem Angliæ,' London, 1604, 8vo. A Latin translation of A Defence for Mariage of Priestes,' by John Ponet or |