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New research is presented on the life of James before his emigration to Australia in 1840. Though fragmentary and incomplete the results show Rennie as a naturalist of considerable standing and of literary and scientific skill. This new information illustrates an intriguingly marginal life in science of the period. On his personal character caution is exercised, although a thread of dogmatism, determination and self assurance, bordering on arrogance, can be traced from his student days until his departure from Britain. Rennie's early unpublished essays clearly point to his potential as a scientific writer. Rennie's final 27 years in Australia are not covered in any detail because of the lack of documentation about this relatively unknown period of his life outside Britain. A bibliography of his published and unpublished works is given as an appendix, together with notes and new insights into attribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]