Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S. 36

Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S. 36

to be pierced by a tunnel; thence down the valley to Brighton, where it

terminated at the upper end of the town on the right side of the valley.

This line extended from Kennington Common to Brighton. The country is

very rugged, having three lofty ridges of hills running east and west,

which it was necessary to pass through, as there are no leading valleys

or gaps to facilitate the passage without going a long way round, which

would have defeated my object. This line might have been shortened

nearly a mile by going direct from Tilgate Forest to Cuckfield, but

the works would have been much heavier, and could scarcely have been

justified at the time, as the public were not prepared for such expensive

operations. I also employed Mr. Vignolles to survey another line from

Nine Elms, Vauxhall, by Dorking, Horsham, and Shoreham; from thence along

the coast to the west end of Brighton. This line, upon the whole, was

easier of execution than the other, but it was five miles longer, which

I considered objectionable, as my object was to lay down the shortest

possible line between the two termini, so as to render all future

competition out of the question. By this time I was so fully convinced

of the ultimate success of railways, both for speed and economy, that

I announced in the prospectus, that when the railway system had been

introduced into France, the journey from London to Paris might be made by

this route in twelve hours; however, at this period no passenger railway

had been completed, and therefore my statement was considered only as

a rough guess, which might never come to pass, and therefore a company

could not be formed. At the same time I employed competent persons to

make the survey for a coast line from Brighton to Worthing, Arundel,

Chichester, Havant, Portsmouth, Southampton, Salisbury, and thence to

Warminster, with the intention of extending it hereafter to Bristol.

 

The Manchester and Liverpool Railway was opened with great ceremony, when

the Duke of Wellington, then Premier, and Mr. Huskisson, the President

of the Board of Trade, attended. Unfortunately, the latter most able

Minister was killed, by being run over by one of the locomotives. Poor

Huskisson was standing between the two lines of rails, with the Duke

and several others, when the engine came up unexpectedly; he lost

his presence of mind, and took a wrong step, which ended in a death

universally deplored by the nation, as well as by his numerous friends.

 

The success of the Manchester and Liverpool railway having been

established, the next thing was to extend the line to Birmingham, and

a company was immediately formed for the purpose, with Mr. George

Stephenson as engineer. About the same time another line was projected

by his son Robert, from London to Birmingham, pursuing pretty nearly

the line of the old Grand Junction or Paddington Canal; this line was

longer than mine, led over much more difficult country, and did not pass

through the same number of towns and population, although it touched the

important city of Coventry.

 

My line commenced at Blackwall, and pursued the route of the Regent’s

Canal, nearly similar to the line of railway which my father had formerly

laid down.

 

There were two strong parties, one of which supported Stephenson’s line,

and the other mine; but ultimately Stephenson’s party was the strongest,

he carried his line by one or two votes, and the present London and

Birmingham railway was executed.

 

The route to Liverpool was unnecessarily long, and therefore a new line

was started to shorten the distance, called the Trent Valley Line, which

commenced at Rugby, and joined the Birmingham line at Stafford, thus

cutting off the angle at Birmingham, and saving a considerable distance.

This line was strongly opposed, but was carried, it is said, by the

influence of the late Sir R. Peel, and was executed, I believe, at the

cost of three millions. If my own and my brother’s line had been carried

out, this would have been unnecessary, as a branch to Stafford would

have sufficed for that and other towns, and Birmingham would have been

upon the main line. It is singular, also, that Telford’s canal, which

supplanted our line, has been absorbed by the adjacent railways.

 

Having now, in a rather rambling manner, brought my professional diary

so far, I must revert again to some incidents connected with my private

life. On the death of Sir Joseph Banks, Sir Humphry Davy was unanimously

elected President of the Royal Society in the year 1820, and I had the

honour of being elected Fellow, 1823.

 

I was elected member of the Travellers’ Club, 1822. This club was formed

in the year 1818, for the express purpose of associating travellers

together, and for promoting travelling. It was enacted that no person was

eligible to become a member unless he had travelled on the Continent, in

a direct line, 500 miles from London, and great things were expected from

it; but although it was the first travelling club established in London,

and contained amongst its members the most distinguished travellers, it

shortly degenerated into an ordinary club, and nothing has ever emanated

from it towards extending our knowledge of the globe, or in publishing

the travels of the numerous able men who belonged to it. Sir Arthur de

Capel Brooke, who was a member of it, and who travelled a good deal

himself, particularly in the north of Europe, going as far as the North

Cape, and who published an interesting account of his journey, spoke

to my brothers, myself, and numerous other travellers on the subject,

proposing to establish a new club, composed of none but distinguished

travellers; he suggested that this, in the first instance, should be

nothing more than a dining club, to meet once every month, saying that

travellers meeting together in this social manner would communicate

to each other their various voyages, and would stimulate each other

to further discoveries; that although a mere social club in the first

instance, in time some good would result, and that in the end a regular

scientific society might be established for the promotion of geography.

He accordingly collected together all the distinguished travellers of

the day, naval, military, and civil, and a most delightful society it

was; the result clearly proved Sir Arthur Brooke’s sagacity, for from

the Raleigh Club was originated the Royal Geographical Society. I am not

quite certain with whom the idea first originated, but I recollect that

at one meeting, when, amongst others, the late distinguished traveller

and Secretary to the Admiralty, Sir John Barrow, was present, an animated

conversation took place, to the effect that the Raleigh Club had been

in existence many years, and a very agreeable club it was; but, except

amusing each other with our adventures, we had done nothing towards

promoting our original intention, which was to stimulate discovery in

foreign lands, and to extend the knowledge of geography throughout the

world. I think Sir John Barrow then said, “Why cannot we establish a

real geographical society, and read papers, and publish transactions,

like other scientific societies?” The idea caught at once: the whole of

the members then present applauded it, and resolved to carry it into

effect. A committee was appointed, and every member, I think, of the club

joined. A general meeting was then called, members soon joined, and Sir

John Barrow was appointed first president; a council and vice-presidents

were chosen, a house was taken in Waterloo Place, Colonel Jackson was

chosen secretary, a royal charter was applied for and obtained, and the

society was duly instituted, under the name of the Royal Geographical

Society. This society, like all others in their infancy, had a good deal

to contend with; it went on well for a time, but at length it began to

languish. It required some man of weight and influence to devote his

time to it, to enlist the Government heartily in the cause, and to make

it understand that it was its interest, on the part of the public,

to promote the Society by every means in its power. Fortunately, at

that time the Society had in Sir Roderick Murchison the very man most

competent to undertake this arduous office. He worked hard; he convinced

the Government of the utility of the Society, and the many advantages

that would be afforded by its existence, as it could collect information

upon all geographical subjects, at far less expense than could be

obtained by any Government establishment; it would, moreover, stimulate

travellers to increased exertions, and accumulate a fund of geographical

information--knowledge that is so important to a commercial country like

our own.

 

The then head of the Government was so much struck by the representations

made to him of the value of the Society and of the advantage it would

be to the Government, that he resolved in the House of Commons to grant

500_l._ a year in aid of its funds. This at once revived the members’

spirits; they started, as it were afresh; the Society became exceedingly

popular, and there was no end of applications to be enrolled as members,

both from ladies and gentlemen, and ever since then it has been one of

the most, if not the most, popular societies of the day.

 

The old Raleigh Club, from which the Geographical Society originated,

having done its duty, and most of its original members having succumbed

to time, there was no longer any necessity for its existence; but as all

scientific societies have their dining clubs, which meet on the days of

the societies’ meetings, it was resolved to merge the Raleigh into the

Geographical Club.

 

In the year 1824, John Wilson Croker, Esq., originated the Athenæum

Club, for men distinguished in science, literature, and art, and asked

me to become a member. I was only too happy to be associated with such a

company as he collected together.

 

Sir Humphry Davy, in the year 1825, originated the Zoological Society,

and asked me to join, which I did most willingly, and perhaps it has been

the most popular and successful of any modern society of that kind. It

commenced operations by purchasing the well-known Cross collection of

Exeter ’Change, in which in my early days I took an especial delight;

for, considering all things, it was a very wonderful collection, and it

is difficult to understand how, in such a confined and unhealthy spot,

it could have been maintained in such good condition. The only other

exhibition of the kind in London was at the Tower; the collection of

animals there consisted of presents from the sovereigns of different

countries. These were afterwards lent to the Zoological Society, who

established their museum in the Regent’s Park, and, taking it altogether,

it is probably the finest and best maintained in the world.

 

[4] The blast-pipe, also, was one of the most important

improvements. Previous to this invention it was necessary to

employ bellows to keep up the fire in the boiler, and these

were worked by the engine, so that a good deal of power was

wasted in order to keep the furnace going, and the greater

the speed, the greater the power necessary to work the

bellows; moreover, the waste steam ejected from the cylinders

was constantly puffing out in the faces of the drivers, so

that they could not see clearly before them. This was a

great annoyance, which they were most anxious to get rid of,

but nobody seemed to know how. At last, either Stephenson,

Hackworth, or Booth, or somebody else, whilst driving an