Rennie, John | Rennie, Sir John | Richey, F.A. | Robinson, Stephen | Rogers, Thomas | Rudyerd, John
Rennie, John  (1761-1821)

Much respected engineer whose main acreditation is the design of Scotland's Bell Rock lighthouse. However there was an on going dispute into this claim, which lasted for nearly 150 years.
Robert Stevenson, the Engineer-in-Chief for the Commissioners of the Northern Lights stated that he was the true designer of this rock based tower.
Following his death in 1821, his son Sir John Rennie, continued the dispute in an autobiography written in 1873. It was published a year after he died in 1875.
John Rennie was the designer of lighthouses at Howth in Ireland and Holyhead on the Welsh coast. This was during the period that he was the engineer for the Irish Mail Packet Service.
He was also responsible for various harbour installations.



Rennie, Sir John  (1794-1874)

A civil engingeer who worked along with his father when he designed the Plymouth breakwater. He later completed lighthouses also designed by his father for the Irish Mail Packet Service at Donaghadee and Port Patrick.



Richey, F.A.  (Life span unknown)

Known to the former personnel of Chance Brothers is ‘Uncle Bill Richey’, whois remember as being someone very special. William F.A. Richey was the Chief Engineer at Chance Brothers. His expert knowledge of optical assemblies and their design, can be viewed at the Trinity Lighthouse Centre in Penzance. There you will find a section of the former bi-form optic that was installed in the Bishop Rock lighthouse. Its size will be the first thing that will need to be taken in and then the understanding of how someone could devise this majestic assembly, turn the idea into a working drawing, along with the exact specifications as to what angle each of the various prisms had to be set, in order to ensure the beam of light was always at its optimum level.
This ‘Grand Old Man’ of Chance Brothers refused to retire until he was 88 years of age, at which time he had been with the company since just before his 18th birthday. But his most endearing quality was the ability to converse and communicate with everyone, no matter what level of employment they held. Also he was renowned for being very approachable and gained a superb level of respect from everyone who knew him.



Robinson, Stephen  (Life span unknown)

He is known as the Engineer who designed the first Heugh lighthouse at Hartlepool 1847.




Rogers, Thomas  (Life span unknown)

Born in London. He was a glass cutter in a business partnered by optical expert George Robinson.
Between 1788 1nd 1792 they supplied optical equipment to Trinity House.
Thomas Rogers is accredited with the inventions of silvered glass reflectors and large plano-convex lenses. These were first fitted in the Portland High light in 1788 and remained in service until 1818.
His designs and applications were also fitted in the Howth light in 1790.
After moving to Ireland in 1792 he designed several lighthouses including the South Rock in County Down. This lighthouse was later abandoned in 1877.
In 1812 he was dismissed by the Ballast Board for numerous defects in his administration of the Irish lights. However from the reports of the time, without his back handed cash payments to various builders, many of the lights would not have been established.



Rudyerd, John  (Life span unknown)

Historical records about John Rudyerd are very few and far between, although he was the designer and builder of the second Eddystone lighthouse in 1708.
It is known that he was born in Cornwall and one of a large family. He first obtained menial work in Plymouth where his employer decided to educate him. This put him in good stead to become a silk merchant in London, where he made a good living and developed a high level of scientific skills.
Following the destruction of Winstanley's Eddystone in 1705, John Rudyerd was asked by the owner Captain John Lovet to prepare a design for a new lighthouse.
His wooden cased tower build to a ship wrights format was first lit in 17908 and remained in service until it was destroyed by fire in 1755.