Pennycuick was born on 15 January 1841 at Pune, a younger son of Brigadier-General John Pennycuick and his wife Sarah. His father and eldest brother, Alexander, fought and died at the Battle of Chillianwalla in 1849. He was educated at Cheltenham College.
Pennycuick decided to divert the west-flowing Periyar 's culmination in the Arabian Sea towards the East so that it could irrigate lakhs of acres of dry land depending only on Vaigai river. Though Pennycuick and other British Engineers went ahead with the construction, braving the nature's fury and the dangers of poisonous insects and wild animals, the construction works were disrupted by relentless rain. Large number of sand bags kept for the construction of the dam was destroyed due to severe flood. A popular myth is that since he could not get adequate funds from the British government, Pennycuick went to England and sold his family property to mobilise money to fund the project - however, there is no evidence to thisas stated by his grandson himself, which was completed in 1895. The dam was inaugurated by Lord Wenlock, the then Governor of the Madras Presidency. It resulted in irrigation of 2.23 lakh acres in Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts. Pennycuick used lime and surki paste for construction, taking into consideration the gravitational force: this allows the dam to withstand tremors and remain strong. Pennycuick said: "I am going to be only once in this earthly world, hence I need to do some good deeds here. This deed should not be prorogue nor ignored since I am not going to be here again".
Death
Pennycuick died in Camberley, Surrey, on 9 March 1911. He is buried in the Churchyard of St. Peter's Church in Frimley. The grave has a substantial granite cross and plinth. In 2018 the grave was renovated and a large granite plaque was added in commemoration of his work on the Mullaiperiyar Dam. The plaque is from the States of Tamilnadu and Kerala in recognition of the achievement.
Family
Pennycuick married Grace Georgina Chamier in 1879. Their son, Sir John Pennycuick, became an English barrister and High Court judge.
Commemoration
The Public Works Department Office at Madurai houses a life-size bronze statue of Pennycuick. The PWD complex itself was named after Pennycuick by the state government.
The PWD has erected four statues of Pennycuick on its premises, including a bust at the Periyar dam. The other busts are seen near the PWD Inspection Bungalow in Thekkadi and on its sub-divisional office premises at Uthamapalayam.
Farmers of Appantirupathi unveiled a granite portrait and distributed sweets on his birth anniversary.
A new bus terminus in Theni was named after him in December 2013.
At Veerapandi, Balarpatti, Kutchanoor and Kuzhiyanur in Theni district, Pennycuick is remembered during the celebration of the traditional Thai Pongal harvest festival.
Many children in this area are named after him.
The people of Palarpatti in Theni district venerated the great man by preparing pongal in front of his statue on his birthday
* Many of the farmer families of the Theni and Madurai districts still keep portraits of Pennycuick and worship him as a god. Villagers prostrate before his portrait, offer prayers, decorate with garlands and perform aarati to his photos which are usually kept in the hall or in puja room along with images of other gods.
The 2014 Tamil filmLingaa, starring Rajinikanth, includes sequences showing the dam construction. However, it portrays the English governor as a villain and Rajinikanth as an Indian king who constructs the dam and gives no credit to Pennycuick.
A white marble bust of Pennycuick was donated to his descendants by A. K. Viswanathan. This statue was unveiled at St Peter's Church in Frimley on 12 January 2019 by Indian High Commission Minister A. S. Rajan.