John Rennie (1761-1821) John Rennie was born in Phantassie near East Linton, East Lothian, in 1761, and was to become one of the greatest engineers of his generation. From an early age he began working for the esteemed millwright Andrew Meikle, a fellow Scot who invented the threshing machine, an agricultural device which separated husks from the grain. Having studied at Edinburgh University Rennie...