James Meadows Rendel | |
|---|---|
 Rendel painted bySir William Boxall | |
| Born | December 1799 (1799-12) Okehampton,Devon, England |
| Died | 21 November 1856(1856-11-21) (aged 56) Kensington Palace Gardens, London, England |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | civil engineer |
| Institutions | Institution of Civil Engineers (president) Fellow of theRoyal Society |
James Meadows RendelFRS (December 1799 – 21 November 1856) was a Britishcivil engineer.
Rendel was the son of the surveyor James Rendel or Rendle and his wife Jane, daughter of the architect John Meadows (died 1791);[1] he was born nearOkehampton,Devon, in 1799. He was initiated into the operations of a millwright under an uncle atTeignmouth, while from his father he learned some civil engineering. At an early age he went to London as asurveyor underThomas Telford, by whom he was employed on the surveys for the proposed suspension bridge across theMersey atRuncorn. About 1822 he settled atPlymouth, and commenced the construction of roads in the north of Devon. One of his smaller projects, still surviving, was an 1826 bridge overBowcombe Creek on theKingsbridge Estuary.[2]
In August 1824 he was employed by theEarl of Morley to make a bridge across theCatwater, an estuary of thePlym within the harbour of Plymouth atLaira. To guard against the undermining effects of the current, he formed an artificial bottom. The bridge, which cost £27,126, was opened on 14 July 1827. With the exception of John Rennie's 1819 Southwark Bridge over theThames, it was the largest iron structure then existing, and in 1836 Rendel received aTelford Medal from theInstitution of Civil Engineers for a paper describing its construction.[2]
He soon entered into a partnership at Plymouth withNathaniel Beardmore, and his practice rapidly grew. In 1826 he erectedBowcombe Bridge, nearKingsbridge, Devon, whenhydraulic power was first applied to the machinery for makingswing bridges. In 1831 he introduced a new system of crossing rivers by means ofchain ferries worked by steam, and in 1832 he constructed afloating bridge on this principle, crossing theDart atDartmouth. Between 1832 and 1834 similar floating bridges were erected atTorpoint andSaltash across theTamar, which greatly facilitated the intercourse between Devon andCornwall. For these achievements a second Telford medal was awarded to Rendel in 1838. TheTorpoint Ferry still operates, albeit much updated. A similarfloating bridge was implemented as theWoolston ferry betweenWoolston, Hampshire andSouthampton in 1836.
During this period Rendel was also engaged in reporting on harbours and rivers in the southwest of England, and thus acquired that mastery of hydraulic engineering on which his fame chiefly rests. In 1829 he designed the harbour which was afterwards executed atPar Docks in Cornwall; in 1835 he carried out works on theBude harbour, dock, andBude Canal, and in 1836 he designedBrixham harbour and the breakwater atTorquay. In 1836–37 he designed, as a terminus to theGreat Western Railway, theMillbay Docks, Plymouth, afterwards executed byIsambard Kingdom Brunel. In 1843–44 he constructedcanals in Devon, and was engaged in the Colchester and Arundel navigation; and in 1844 he designed harbour improvements forNewhaven andLittlehampton inSussex. At the same time he was largely employed on marine works by theAdmiralty and other government departments, as well as by public companies. TheExchequer Loan Commissioners engaged him in 1835–37 in the repair of the Montrose suspension bridge after its fall. There he introduced the principle oftrussing the framing of the roadway. This system of preventing the undulation, by which so many structures of this kind have been destroyed, was quickly acknowledged to be essential to their safety.
About 1838 Rendel dissolved his partnership with Beardmore at Plymouth, and settled in London, but still was chiefly employed on work for his native county. In 1841 he constructed the Millbay Pier, Plymouth – a work of considerable difficulty owing to the depth of water in which it was built. Here he first introduced the method of construction since employed inHolyhead andPortland harbours.
In 1839 he was engaged in preparing schemes for a railway between Exeter and Plymouth, running overDartmoor. At the time sufficient funds could not be raised, but an alternative coastal line was afterwards carried out by I. K. Brunel. In 1843 he made plans for docks atBirkenhead, which he defended before parliamentary committees against hostile local influence. The contest was long protracted, and the incessant labour served to shorten Rendel's life; his published evidence forms a valuable record of engineering practice of the period. In 1844–53 he constructed docks atGrimsby; in 1848–53 extensions of the docks atLeith; in 1850–53 docks atGarston on the Mersey, with extensions of the East and West India and the London docks. As constructor of the Grimsby docks he was one of the first to applyW. G. Armstrong's system ofhydraulic machinery for working the lock gates, sluices, cranes, etc. For this work he received a grand medal of honour at theParis Exhibition of 1855.
For the Admiralty he planned in 1845, and afterwards constructed, the packet and refuge harbour at Holyhead, and in 1847 he constructed the harbour of refuge at Portland. In the making of these great harbours he contrived, by means of elevated timber staging, to let down masses of stone vertically from railway trucks, and, by building up the masonry with unexampled rapidity to a point above sea level, contrived to reduce to comparative insignificance the force of the sea during building operations. As many as 24,000 tons (24 kt) of stone were deposited in one week. In 1850 he commenced making a new harbour atSt. Peter Port,Guernsey.
Rendel was much occupied in the improvement of rivers. In 1852, in conjunction with SirWilliam Cubitt andRichard John Griffith, he examined and reported to the treasury upon the arterial drainage works in Ireland, and in 1855 he completed the suspension bridge across theNess atInverness for theCommissioners of Highland Roads and Bridges. His aid was also sought by foreign countries. In 1852–53 he designed docks forGenoa; in 1853–55 he reported on the harbour ofRio de Janeiro; in 1854 he reported to thePrussian government on a naval establishment atHeppens on theriver Jade; and in 1854–55, by direction of theHamburg senate, he inspected theElbe fromHamburg toCuxhaven. For the Spanish, he devised a system of railways betweenMadrid andOviedo, as well as improvements to the riverEbro.
In England his railway work was somewhat restricted, but he executed theBirkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Junction Railway and in India he directed the construction of the East Indian and the Madras railways. In 1856 he reported on the newWestminster Bridge. His last work was a design for the suspension bridge across the ornamental water inSt. James's Park, London.
In 1852 and 1853 Rendel served as president of theInstitution of Civil Engineers, which he joined in 1824. He became a fellow of theRoyal Society on 23 February 1843 and was elected a member of the council. He died at 10Kensington Palace Gardens, London, on 21 November 1856 and is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.
Rendel was a man of great energy, and implicit confidence was felt in his efficiency, tact, and honesty. His greatest enterprises were the construction of the harbours at Holyhead and Portland works, which go some way to justify the linking of his name withSmeaton, Rennie, and Telford.
Rendel contributed several valuable papers to theProceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He married Catherine Jane Harris, who died on 18 July 1884, aged 87. His third son,Stuart Rendel, at one time managing partner in London ofSir William Armstrong's engineering firm, was MP forMontgomeryshire from 1880 to 1894, and was raised to the peerage as Lord Rendel in 1895. Other children include:
A nephew,James Murray Dobson, became resident engineer of theBuenos Aires harbour works in the 1880s and 1890s.
In 1913, James Meadows Rendel's eldest son Alexander Meadows Rendel formed a partnership with Frederick Palmer and Seymour Briscoe Tritton, called Rendel Palmer & Tritton.[3] In 1985, the firm was incorporated as Rendels Ltd;[3] it trades today asRendel Ltd.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: "Rendel, James Meadows".Dictionary of National Biography. London:Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.| Professional and academic associations | ||
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| Preceded by | President of theInstitution of Civil Engineers December 1851 – December 1853 | Succeeded by |
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