RENNIE, Joui, a celebrated civil engineer, was the youngest son of a respectable farmer at I'han tassie. in the parish of Prekonkirk, and county of East Lothian, and was born there on the 7th June, I761. He had the misfortune to lose his father at the early age of five, but his education was carried on at the parish school by his surviving relatives. The peculiar talents of young Rennie seem to have been called forth and fostered by his proximity to the work shop of the celebrated mechanic, xndrew Meikle, the inventor or improver of the thrashing machine, and in his frequent visits to that scene of mechanism, he was constantly occupied in using, and perhaps as often in abusing the tools that fell in his way. As he advanced in years, however, he began to imitate at home the models of machinery which he had seen, and at the early age of ten he made the model of a windmill, a steam engine, and a pile engine, the last of which is said to exhibit much practical dexterity.
In the year 1773, Rennie left the school at Preston kirk, in consequence of some misunderstanding with the schoolmaster, whom he had conceived to be inca pable of advancing him in his studies; and he entered into the employment of Andrew llcikle, with whom he continued till 1775. Finding, however, that he was still far behind in his education. he went to Dunbar to study mathematics under Mr. Gibson, and in 1777 he returned to work with Mr. Meikle, with considerable addition to his former stock of knowledge.
Mr. Gibson having, about this time, been elected Master of the Academy of Perth, recommended Ren nie as his successor at Dunbar ; but though he taught the school for some weeks, to oblige his friend, he never thought of continuing it as a profession; and he accordingly renewed his mechanical labours under Mr Meikle, employing his leisure hours in modelling and drawing machinery Before he had reached the age of eighteen, he had erected two or three corn mills in his native parish ; but the first undertaking which he executed on his own account was the rebuilding of the flour mills at Invergowrie near Dundee.
By zealously prosecuting his professional labours in summer, he was enabled to visit Edinburgh in the winter season, when he attended the lectures of Dr. Robinson on Natural Philosophy, and those of Dr.
Black on Chemistry, and thus to fit himself for the pro• fession of a civil engineer, to which he seems now to have aspired. Dr. Robinson recommended hint to Messrs. Bolton and Watt at Soho, and on his way to that place, he examined the aqueduct bi idge at caster, the docks at Liverpool and the interesting works on the Bridgewater canal. After remaining some months at Soho, Mr. Rennie made a tour through the manufacturing districts of Yorkshire, and then settled in London.
The erection of the Albion Mills in London about this time may he considered as an epoch in the history of the great practical establishments of Britain Messrs. Bolton and Watt, and Mr. Wyatt, who planned this scheme, and were the principal proprietors of it, had the millwork and machinery excel ted and put up under the direction of Mr. Rennie ; and Mr. Watt has himself recorded the valuable assistance which had been derived from his friend in this great work.* The tine establishment of the Albion Mills, completed in 1786 or 1787-9, and which was an honour to our country, was abused by the learned as well as by the ignorant mob of the day, as a monopoly injurious to the pub lic good, whereas it cannot be doubted that they great ly reduced the prices of flour while they continued at work. The destruction of these mills in 1791 by fire, which was certainly the result of design; and the loss of all the machinery which they contained, will be ranked among those disgraceful outrages against indi vidual property which have cast a stain upon our na tional character. " The Albion Mills," says Mr. Watt, r. Cu.) "consisted of two engines, each of fifty horses power, and twenty pairs of millstones, of which, twelve or more pairs, with the requisite machinery for dressing the flour and for other purposes, were gene rally kept at work. In place of wooden wheels, always subject to frequent derangement, wheels of cast-iron, with the teeth truly formed and finished, and properly proportioned to the work, were here employed, and other machinery which used to he made of wood, was made of cast-iron in improved forms; and I believe the work executed here may be said to form the com mencement of that system of millwork which has prov ed so useful to this country.