Description
A collection of correspondence, manuscripts and documents related to Henry Dundas and his work as Home Secretary, Secretary
of War and First Lord of the Admiralty.
Background
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742-1811), politician, was born on April 28, 1742 in Edinburghshire, Scotland. He married
Elizabeth (1751-1843), coheir of David Rannie, merchant and shipbuilder. They had four children. In May 1775, Dundas became
Lord Advocate, and in 1782 he became Treasurer of the Navy. He was elected to Parliament for Scotland in 1790; Dundas was
a close political all of William Pitt, the Younger. He became Home Secretary in 1791, President of the Board of Control in
1793, and Secretary of State for War in July 1794. In 1805, Dundas was impeached after a commission of inquiry uncovered accounting
transgressions in naval records. Dundas returned to Edinburgh where he died on May 27, 1811. Robert Saunders Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville (1771-1851), politician, was born in Edinburgh on March 14, 1742, the only son
of Henry Dundas and his wife Elizabeth. Robert served as his father's private secretary from 1794; he was brought in as MP
for Hastings in 1794, Rye in 1796, and Midlothian in 1801. He married the heiress Anne Saunders on August 29, 1796; the couple
had four sons and two daughters. In 1807, after his father's "retirement," he became President of the Board of Control for
India; in 1811, he was promoted to First Lord of the Admiralty. In 1814, he was appointed a governor of the Bank of Scotland,
and he was elected Chancellor of the University of St. Andrews, and was made a Knight of the Thistle in 1821. He resigned
his political offices in 1830, over debates about the Reform Act, never to hold office again. He died on June 10, 1851 at
Melville Castle.
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