John Rennie (1761-1821), Scottish civil engineer. Rennie studied at Edinburgh University and worked as a millwright before turning to canal engineering in the 1790s. From about 1800 he worked on extensive drainage projects in the East Anglian fens and on improving English harbours and naval docks. He also built the London and East India docks on the Thames. Rennie is best known for his designs for the Waterloo and Southwark bridges in London, as well as for the New London Bridge. He declined a knighthood in 1817 and is buried in St Paul's Cathedral in London. Taken from Lives of the Engineers by Samuel Smiles, 1862.