RENNIE, ALEXANDER (1811-89) was born at Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire. He received a fair education; was taught the tailoring trade, and practised it on his own account in his native village for some years. Rennie sailed for New Zealand in the Phoebe Dunbar (Jul 1850). Arriving in Oct, he entered upon his own trade in Dunedin, but associated with it the business of a seedsman, of which he had gained some knowledge. He imported seeds from Scotland and was especially successful in the distribution of the yellow turnip for which Aberdeen was famous. An advertisement in the Otago Witness in 1851 reads: 'The subscriber has for sale a quantity of turnip seed which consists of six of the most approved kinds of that article. They were raised at Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, a place celebrated for producing turnip seed.' A man of great public spirit and unwavering loyalty to his opinions, Rennie was a 'thorough voluntary.' He believed it was no part of the duty of the state to provide religious instruction for the young. On this he came into collision with the stalwarts of the Otago settlement, which was founded upon state provision for religion and education. He was never a popular man, and did not aspire to be a political leader. Quite early he opposed with all his power the suggestion of the provincial executive to grant lands in Dunedin for a church and parsonage for the Church of England. He opposed the provision in the Otago education ordinance for religious instruction in schools; and by the same reasoning the clauses in the Colonial education act which prohibited the teaching of the Bible as part of the school course had his full concurrence. Rennie had no difficulty in being elected to the first Provincial Council as a member for Dunedin City, which he represented for six years (1853-59). In the succeeding four years he represented Central, and for three years (1863-66) Taieri, where he was at that time engaged in farming. For two years, 1861-63, he presided over the Council as speaker, and in 1865 he was a member of the provincial executive. In 1855 he was a member of the old Dunedin town board.

Selling his farm in 1865, Rennie paid a visit to the Old Country, and on returning he lived privately, taking a constant interest in philanthropic and social questions. Throughout life he directed much energy towards the total abstinence movement. In 1855 he was president of the Otago Maine law league, the form that organised temperance took at that time. One of his hobbies was the Otago benevolent institution, with which he was associated from its earliest years, and of which he was a trustee (1869-89). Here again his opinions brought him strong opposition, and even contumely. He refused to consent to an illegitimate child being admitted to the institution, and strained every rule to prevent the institution handing over a child to the custody of its father, against whom nothing could be alleged morally except that he was a freethinker. Rennie devoted himself with zeal to church and Sunday school, and was intimately associated with Dr Stuart and Knox Church as an elder. He died on 2 Jun 1889.

Otago P.C. Proc.; Hocken, Otago; Otago Daily Times, 3 Jun 1889, 28 Jun 1930 (p).

Reference: Volume 2, page 114

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