Canal Engineers - William Jessup,James Smeaton, John Rennie


John Smeaton
John Smeaton (born Whitkirk, West Yorkshire 8th June 1724 - died Whitkirk 28th October 1792, aged 68 years).
John Smeaton was the first Englishman to describe himself as a "Civil Engineer". In order to gather other like minds together to discuss their interests and theories, he created the Society of Civil Engineers in 1771. He was originally an instrument maker but became interested in windmills and watermills and other sources of power. He became well known and respected, so much so that he became a Fellow Of The Royal Society (F.R.S.) at the age of 29. He reconstructed the Eddystone Lighthouse and then became involved in canal and river surveying and engineering, doing his most successful work in Scotland (the Forth and Clyde Canal, 35 miles in length, started on the 10th June 1768 – completed 1790) and Ireland (the Grand Canal, started 1756, completed 1799, with William Jessup).
William Jessup
William Jessup (1745 - 1814)
William Jessup was the son of a naval engineer. His father had worked with John Smeaton on the construction of the third Eddystone Lighthouse and when he (Jessup's father) died Smeaton took the young William under his wing and trained him as an engineer. Jessup worked on numerous River Navigations and canals mostly located in Eastern England and the Midlands and many consider him to be the greatest expert on canal and river navigations of his time. He was also engineer on the Grand Union (formerly Grand Junction) and Llangollen (formerly Ellesmere) Canals and on the Rochdale Canal. He was also responsible for the building of the East India docks in London and dock improvements in Bristol. Jessup is credited with designing the first flanged wheels for railway use in 1789.
John Rennie
John Rennie (born East Linton, Scotland 1761 – died 1821, buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London)
John Rennie was a new type of university trained engineer, having studied at Edinburgh University from 1780 to 1783. He worked as a millwright in his vacations but his first challenge was to design the steam powered Albion flour mills. He set up his business in London and became a prominent figure in the growing science and engineering establishment. He became surveyor, then engineer, on the Kennet and Avon Canal, one of the most architecturally impressive canals with its classical bridges and aqueducts. Work commenced in the spring of 1788 at Bradford-on-Avon and Newbury, completion being effected by the opening of Caen Hill locks at Devizes in December 1810. However he seems to have overlooked a basic rule of canal building, that the summit level of a canal must have sufficient supplies of water, and steam pumps had to be installed to replace water used by the locks. He also acted as engineer on the Rochdale and Lancaster Canals, both with the same impressive feeling of scale as the Kennet and Avon. He had a wide range of interests, from designing docks to experimenting with diving bells. Rennie's last project was London Bridge but it was unfinished when he died in 1821. His son, also named John, completed the bridge.
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