Sir Alexander Meadows Rendel, (3 April 1829 – 23 January 1918) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

Early life

Rendel was born in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, the eldest son of the engineer James Meadows Rendel and his wife Catherine Harris. Three of his brothers were civil engineers:

George Wightwick Rendel George Wightwick Rendel (6 February 1833 – 9 October 1902) was an English engineer, and naval architect. He was closely associated with the Tyneside industrialist and armaments manufacturer, William George Armstrong. Family George was the th ...

Stuart Rendel, 1st Baron Rendel Stuart Rendel, 1st Baron Rendel (2 July 1834 – 4 June 1913), was a British industrialist, philanthropist and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician. He sat as a Liberal Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for Montgomery ...

(who was also a Liberal MP), and Hamilton Owen Rendel (who designed and supervised the installation of the steam driven compound condensing pump engines, hydraulic accumulators and

hydraulic machinery Hydraulic machines use liquid fluid power to perform work. Heavy construction vehicles are a common example. In this type of machine, hydraulic fluid is pumped to various hydraulic motors and hydraulic cylinders throughout the machine a ...

that first operated the

bascule A bascule is a counterbalanced structure (i.e. a lever) having one end that rises as the other lowers. It may also refer to: * Bascule bridge, a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances the span in providing clearance for b ...

s of the iconic

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule, Suspension bridge, suspension, and, until 1960, Cantilever bridge, cantilever bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones ...

in London). He was educated at

The King's School Canterbury The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school and is considered to be the oldest continuously op ...

and

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Career

Rendel was the engineer of the London Dock Company in 1856, and was responsible for the

Shadwell Basin Shadwell Basin is a housing and leisure complex built around a disused dock in Wapping, London. The old dock was formerly part of the London Docks, a group of docks built by the London Dock Company at Shadwell and Wapping as part of the wider d ...

, the

Connaught Tunnel The Connaught Tunnel is in southeastern British Columbia, on the Revelstoke, British Columbia, Revelstoke–Donald, British Columbia, Donald segment. The tunnel carries the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) main line under Mount Macdonald in ...

and the

Royal Albert Dock Albert Dock may refer to: * Albert Dock, Hull, in Kingston upon Hull, England *Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool The Royal Albert Dock is a complex of dock buildings and warehouses in Liverpool, England. Designed by Jesse Hartley and Philip Hardwi ...

in London, the Albert and Edinburgh Docks in

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

, Workington Dock and Harbour. In 1857-1858 he visited

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and was consulting engineer to the

India Office The India Office was a British government department in London established in 1858 to oversee the administration of the Provinces of India, through the British viceroy and other officials. The administered territories comprised most of the mo ...

, the

East India Railway The East Indian Railway Company, operating as the East Indian Railway (reporting mark EIR), introduced railways to East India and North India, while the Companies such as the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, South Indian Railway, Bombay, Baroda ...

and other Indian railways, and was a member of the commission to determine narrow gauge for Indian Railways, in 1870. He designed the

Lansdowne Bridge Rohri The Lansdowne Bridge ( Sindhi ; ) over the Indus at Sukkur was one of the great engineering feats of the 19th century. The longest cantilever bridge ever built, it had to support the load of heavy steam locomotives. The bridge was inaugura ...

Sukkur Sukkur is a city in the Pakistani province of Sindh along the western bank of the Indus River, directly across from the historic city of Rohri. Sukkur is the List of cities in Sindh by population, third largest city in Sindh after Karachi and H ...

over the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayas, Himalayan river of South Asia, South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northw ...

, which when it was completed in 1889 was the largest cantilever bridge in the world. The climax of his bridge-building career was considered to be the Howrah or Jubilee Bridge allowing trains to cross the Hooghly River near Calcutta; this was opened by the Viceroy on 21 February 1887. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, ...

(KCIE) in 1897. He was the designer of

Hardinge Bridge Hardinge Bridge is a steel railway truss bridge over the Padma River located at Ishwardi, Pabna and Bheramara, Kushtia in Bangladesh. It is named after Lord Hardinge, who was the Viceroy of India from 1910 to 1916. The bridge is long. Const ...

in Bangladesh.

Personal life

Rendel married Eliza Hobson (1830–1916), daughter of Captain

William Hobson Captain William Hobson (26 September 1792 – 10 September 1842) was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Royal Navy, who served as the first Governor of New Zealand. He was a co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi. Hobson was dispatched f ...

RN, the late first

Governor of New Zealand A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

. The ceremony was held on 27 January 1853 at the

Parish Church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

Stoke Damerel Stoke, also referred to by its earlier name of Stoke Damerel, is an inner suburb of the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. In 1844, Stoke Damerel was described as a parish in Roborough hundred, adjoining the borough of Plymouth, and including ...

, Devonport by the Rev James Elliot, uncle of the bride. They had five sons and three daughters, including: * Dr. Arthur B. Rendel, who married Elizabeth Cecilia Blair, daughter of Colonel H. F. Blair of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, in 1902. * Catharine Jane Rendel, who married architect

Halsey Ricardo Halsey Ralph Ricardo (6 August 1854 – 15 February 1928) was an English architect and designer. Family History Ricardo was born in Bath on 6 August 1854. He was a son of banker Harry Ralph Ricardo (1823–1860) and Anna Halsey (a daughter of ...

. Rendel had a 400 acre estate Rikketswood in

Charlwood Charlwood is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is immediately north-west of London Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, close west of Horley and north of Crawley. The historic county boundary between Sur ...

purchased before his brother Stuart bought the upstaging Hatchlands. Rendel died at 51

Gordon Square Gordon Square is a public park square in Bloomsbury, London, England. It is part of the Bedford Estate and was designed as one of a pair with the nearby Tavistock Square. It is owned by the University of London. History and buildings The sq ...

, London, on 23 January 1918. He is buried with his family in

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regist ...

References

1828 births 1918 deaths Engineers from Plymouth, Devon English civil engineers Burials at Brookwood Cemetery {{England-engineer-stub