Colonel John Pennycuick CSI (January 15, 1841, Pune - March 9, 1911, Camberley) was a British Army engineer and civil servant who served as a member of the Madras Legislative Council. He undertook several irrigation works which included the masonry dam of Mullaiperiyar on the Periyar River.
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Pennycuick was born on January 15, 1841 to Brigadier-General John Pennycuick who fought and died in the Battle of Chillianwalla. Pennycuick was educated at Cheltanham and Addiscombe and was appointed lieutenant in the Madras Engineers in December 1858.
Pennycuick trained at the Military College in Addiscombe[1] and joined the Royal Engineers in 1858[2] and arrived in India on November 11, 1860. He became a Second Captain on 15th October 1870.[3] Captain John Pennycuick made a major on 8 December, 1876.[4] He commanded H company at Zoulla during the Abyssinian campaign of 1868.[5] On October 10, 1895 the Queen nominated him a Companion of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India.[6] He served in Public Works Department till January 1896. During his six years of service in the PWD , Pennycuick served as Chief Engineer in the construction of the Mullaperiyar Dam and was awarded a medal for his participation in Abyssinian Expedition of 1867-68. Pennycuick was nominated to the Madras Legislative Council in November 1893. He was the last president of the Royal Indian Engineering College at Coopers Hill. He also held the position of President of the Sanitary Board and was a faculty in the University of Madras. He received a Telford medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers. The Australian government sought his advise for avoiding damage from flooding of the Brisbane river in 1899. He was also a keen cricketer.[2]
There are temples in rural areas of Tamilnadu State where Pennycuick was worshipped as God