John Rennie

John Rennie (7 June 1761 - 4 October 1821) was a civil engineer from East Linton, Scotland. A farmer's son, he worked first as a millwright with noted mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle (inventor of the threshing machine), then attended Edinburgh University (1780-1783) and began work as an engineer with James Watt in 1783.

In 1791, he moved to London and set up his own engineering business, having by then begun to expand into civil engineering. His early projects included the Lancaster Canal (started 1792), the Crinan Canal (1794) and the Kennet and Avon Canal (also started 1794).

Rennie died in London in 1821 and he was buried in St Paul's Cathedral. His final design project, London Bridge (1824-1831), was to be completed by his son, also known as John Rennie.

He built many bridges, canals, docks:

• Kelso Bridge
• Leeds Bridge
• Musselburgh
• Newton Stewart
• Boston
• New Galloway
• Southwark Bridge (old)
• Waterloo Bridge (old)
• London Bridge (old)
• Vauxhall Bridge (two designs of old bridge, neither used)
• London Docks
• Blackwall Dock
• Hull Dock
• Liverpool Docks
• Dublin Docks
• Greenock Docks
• Leith Dock
• Plymouth breakwater