INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: SERIES TWO: Parts 1 and 2 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY Series Two: Papers of John Rennie (1761-1821), Thomas Telford (1757-1834) and Related Figures from the National Library of Scotland Part 1: Papers of James Watt, Joseph Black, Thomas Telford and John Rennie Part 2: Papers of John Rennie, Thomas Telford and Robert Stevenson Contents listing PUBLISHER'S NOTE INTRODUCTION TO THE RENNIE PAPERS CONTENTS OF REELS - PART 1 CONTENTS OF REELS - PART 2 DETAILED LISTING - PART 1 DETAILED LISTING - PART 2 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: SERIES TWO: Parts 1 and 2 Publisher's Note This second series offers material from two of the most important names of the Industrial Revolution, John Rennie (1761- 1821) and Thomas Telford (1757-1834). Both were key figures in the development of the roads, bridges and canals that helped transform the British landscape throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The strength and depth of their talent and their enthusiasm for engineering is reflected in the wealth of papers that survive them. Parts 1 & 2 are largely dedicated to the John Rennie papers. The youngest son of a respected farming family, John Rennie was born at Phantassie, East Lothian. Apprenticed to the agricultural engineer Andrew Meikle (inventor of the threshing machine) at the age of twelve, Rennie quickly mastered the methods and tools involved in designing machinery. He also benefited from attending Joseph Black's lectures on chemistry at Edinburgh University. From 1784 he pursued a career in engineering in England and was recommended to James Watt, who charged him with installing new steam-powered machinery at the Albion Flour Mill in Blackfriars, London. This led to further mill work and eventually larger scale engineering projects, such as the building of the London and East India Docks, the completion of the Kennet and Avon Canal, and the construction of the Southwark, Waterloo and London Bridges. Rennie's prolific career as an engineer is evident in the numerous notebooks, plans and drawings offered in this collection. There are 192 volumes in total. These cover: Bridges: includes correspondence and reports on London, Waterloo, Vauxhall & Southwark Canals: including Aberdeen, Grand Junction and Grand Western Fens: papers on all drainage work in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire Harbours: includes plans for Aberdeen, Belfast, Bristol, and London docks Lights: consists largely of letters written by Robert Stevenson regarding the Bell Rock Lighthouse, of which he was site engineer Mills: including street plans, notes and calculations for the construction of the Albion Mill Overseas operations: details of sugar mills, harbours, waterworks, and other projects in locations such as the West Indies, Bombay, Cape Town and St Petersburg This material offers a variety of information on different aspects of Rennie's projects - from technical data regarding quantities and types of materials to be used, to more general information about the practicalities of dealing with contractors and schedules. In addition to the details on specific projects, these papers also contain key correspondence between Rennie and other leading industrialists of the time including James Watt, the Brunels, and other members of the Rennie family, notably his eldest son George, who followed his father into the engineering profession. The letters highlight how much these key figures shared information on a variety of topics, from materials and building methods to even providing references for individuals Rennie was considering taking into his employment. The following extract is one such letter to Rennie from James Watt: “After 20 years that I have not seen Dudley Clerk, I cannot take upon myself to judge of his character or abilities, he was then young, perhaps 24 or 25, showed some ingenuity in mechanical matters and had abilities as a bookkeeper, it was in the latter capacity only he was employed by me. Though not entrusted with money himself he contrived to borrow it from the canal clerk, who was a silly rascal, and betwixt them I lost the money, as far as I remember. How far Clerk was blameable in this affair I really cannot take upon me to say, being only able to speak from a very confused remembrance. If you said from his knowledge or abilities it is expedient to employ him, you may easily prevent his having anything to do with money; but I would advise a brief enquiry in that point where he has been last. I always found him good humoured accurate and intelligent in what I had to do with him, and as I certainly wish him well, I beg this letter may be reserved for your own use only.” MS.19824, 2nd December 1794 The close working relationship between Rennie and Messrs Boulton and Watt is reflected in the large amount of correspondence between them in this collection. Covered here is correspondence between them for the years 1788, 1792, 1800, 1802, 1806 and 1808-21. As Rennie used Boulton and Watt engines in all his mill work, there are many exchanges between them both of a business and personal nature. These letters also include material from James Watt junior's trip up the Rhine in the steam ship Caledonia in 1817. The second major figure represented is Thomas Telford, who transformed access to the Highlands of Scotland and much of Wales through a series of roads, canals and bridges. He is perhaps most famous for his work on the Caledonian Canal, 1802- 1823, and for the revolutionary Menai Suspension Bridge, 1819-1826, but he also pioneered the structural use of cast iron, built over 1,000 miles of roads, and was responsible for the construction of many new harbours. His contribution to the integration of the United Kingdom, the connectivity of rural and urban regions, and the free flow of raw materials and manufactured was substantial. Part 1 includes many letters from Telford and his diary for 1833, the year before he died. Part 2 features a further 10 manuscript volumes consisting of business correspondence, draft reports, accounts and details of his professional activities for the last ten years of his life. Telford's Scottish projects are a particular focus of this collection, including information on the Broomielaw Bridge in Glasgow, the Aire and Calder Canal and the Aberdeen Harbour. Also present are drafts and letters relating to the Life of Thomas Telford Civil Engineer, written by him and edited and published in 1838 by John Rickman, the statistician, whose family preserved this collection of papers. Part 1 also features some important material pertaining to Joseph Black (1728-1799), Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh University, who discovered Carbon Dioxide and whose work on latent heat inspired his pupil James Watt. The text of his lectures on the Elements of the Theory and Practice of Chymistry, delivered in 1767, and fifteen lectures on heat provide insights into his theories and teaching methods. Further material relating to James Watt (1736-1819) can be found in the album compiled by Allan Park Paton, librarian of Greenock, in Part 1. There are also letters from Sir Walter Scott, William Morris, George Meredith, Matthew Arnold and others. Part 2 includes two volumes concerning the activities of Robert Stevenson (1772-1850), famous for his work on lighthouses, and John McAdam (1756-1836), inventor of the macadam road surface. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: SERIES TWO: Parts 1 and 2 This strong body of material enables scholars to examine a significant period in British industrial history from the records created by some of its main protagonists. <back INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: SERIES TWO: Parts 1 and 2 Introduction to the Rennie Papers NLS MSS. 19771-19965 comprise the Rennie Papers. These have all been filmed in Parts 1 & 2 of this collection (with the exception of MSS. 19955-61 which are miscellaneous family papers relating to other family members). The following introduction is taken from the Catalogue to the Manuscripts at the National Library of Scotland. John Rennie (1761-1821) was one of the distinguished group of Scottish engineers whose work contributed so much to the industrial and commercial development of the United kingdom in the early 19th century. With the exception of roads, in which he appears not to have been interested, and steam engines, which he promised Watt not to build – though he frequently constructed the accompanying machinery - there was very little in the field of engineering that lay outside the range of his activities. This exceptional diversity is reflected in this collection of his papers, which covers his entire working life from his first visit to England in 1748 to his death. The papers are from his own office, and consist principally of incoming letters from clients, site engineers, contractors, suppliers, and tradesmen, draft reports and estimates, letter books, and notebooks. The collection is especially rich for the last fifteen years of his life, and for his major works, though the notebooks give a clear and consistent view of his activities throughout the 1790s. Apart from the projects with which Rennie alone was involved, he frequently collaborated with, or was consulted by colleagues, and his papers are thus an important source of information about Robert Stevenson, Thomas Telford, the Watts, the Boultons, the Jessops, and may other engineering contempories. The papers complement those in the library of the Institute of Civil engineers which has many of his reports, and the majority of his letter books, and in the archives of the British Transport Commission which contains many of the papers relating to his canal projects. This collection was used to some extent by Samuel Smiles in his article on Rennie in Lives of the Engineers, 1861, Vol. 2, pp. 94-284, and extensively by C.T.G.Boucher in John Rennie 1761-1821,Manchester, 1963, and by Wallace Reyburn in Bridge Across the Atlantic, 1972.