James Rennell, an English geographer, born near Chudleigh, Devonshire, Nov. 3, 1742, died in London, March 29, 1830. He entered the navy, served in India, became engineer in the East India company's service, distinguished himself in the campaigns of Lord Clive, and was made surveyor general of Bengal, returning to England in 1782. In 1795 he assisted Mungo Park in the preparations for his journey in Africa, and afterward contributed geographical illustrations to his travels. He was buried in "Westminster abbey. The works by which Rennell is best known are "The Geographical System of Herodotus Examined and Explained" (4to, 1800), and "Observations on the Topography of the Plain of Troy" (4to, 1814). Among his other works are: an atlas of Bengal (1781), and a map of Hindostan, with an explanatory memoir (1783); "Elucidations of African Geography" (1793-'8); "Illustrations of the Expedition of the Younger Cyrus, and the Retreat of the Ten Thousand " (1816); "Comparative Geography of Western Asia" (1831); and " An Investigation of the Currents of the Atlantic Ocean" (1832).