The 1st Viscount Melville.

He was the fourth son of Robert Dundas, Lord Arniston, the elder (1685–1753), Lord President of the Court of Session, and was born at Dalkeith in 1742. He was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, and the University of Edinburgh.

Becoming a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1763, he soon acquired a leading position in the Scottish legal system; and he had the advantage of the success of his half-brother Robert (1713–1787), who had become Lord President of the Court of Session in 1760.

He became Solicitor General for Scotland in 1766; but after his appointment as Lord Advocate in 1775, he gradually relinquished his legal practice to devote his attention more exclusively to public affairs. In 1774 he was returned to the Parliament of Great Britain for Midlothian, and joined the party of Frederick North, Lord North; and notwithstanding his speaking Scots and ungraceful manner, he soon distinguished himself by his clear and argumentative speeches. His name appears in the 1776 minute book of the Poker Club.

After holding subordinate offices under William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne and William Pitt the Younger, he entered the cabinet in 1791 as secretary of state for the Home Department.

From 1794 to 1801 he was War Secretary under Pitt, his great friend. In 1802 he was elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Viscount Melville and Baron Dunira.

Under Pitt in 1804 he again entered office as First Lord of the Admiralty, when he introduced numerous improvements in the details of the department. Suspicion had arisen, however, as to the financial management of the Admiralty, of which Dundas had been treasurer between 1782 and 1800; in 1802 a commission of inquiry was appointed, which reported in 1805. The result was the impeachment of Dundas in 1806, on the initiative of Samuel Whitbread, for the misappropriation of public money; and though it ended in an acquittal, and nothing more than formal negligence lay against him, he never again held office. This was the last impeachment trial ever held in the House of Lords. Another reason for his retreat could have been Pitt's death in 1806. An earldom was offered in 1809 but declined.

He was friends with John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. Simcoe named the town of Dundas, Ontario in southern Ontario after him and Dundas Street, Toronto, (now Highway 5), is also named after him. In 1792 Dundas County, Ontario, was named in his honour. The main streets of several towns along the collection of County Roads formerly known as Highway 2 are also named after Dundas.

Melville Monument in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh

A monument to him, modelled on Trajan's Column in Rome, stands in the centre of St Andrew Square, Edinburgh. Raised "by the voluntary contributions of the officers, petty officers, seamen and marines of these united kingdoms", it was designed in 1821 by William Burn, who was advised by Robert Stephenson after residents of the square expressed concern about the adequacy of the foundations to support a column of such height. A statue of Dundas, sculpted by Robert Forrest from a model by Francis Chantrey,^[1] was added to the top in 1828.

Fictional References

Lord Melville, as First Lord of the Admiralty, is present or a background character in several of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels. As a major official favourably disposed to Jack Aubrey, Lord Melville's political interest is often helpful to the captain. O'Brian casts Melville's impeachment for malversation of public monies as a political attack using naval intelligence spending, the details of which cannot be disclosed for security and the safety of intelligence agents --such as Stephen Maturin. Melville's son Robert Dundas also appears in a similar role as distant patron, while the 1st Viscount Melville's son Heneage Dundas is a frequent secondary character, being Jack Aubrey's close friend.

See also

• Edward Southwell Russell, 26th Baron de Clifford, the last peer ever tried in the House of Lords.

References

• Fortescue, J. W., Sir (1906) A history of the British Army: Vol 4, From the fall of the Bastille to the Peace of Amiens 1789-1801, 3 pts, London : Macmillan

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