Dundas Henry

Dundas, Henry, Viscount Melville, belonged to the Arniston branch of the same family as the foregoing, and was born about 1740. After an education received at the High School and University of Edinburgh, he entered the profession of the law, of which his father and many other relatives were distinguished members. Such was his ability that in 1775 he had attained the position of Lord Advocate, and was returned to Parliament as member for the county of Edinburgh. He passed over from the Opposition to the Ministry, and was appointed by Lord Shelburne in 1782 treasurer of the navy. This office he resumed under Pitt on the fall of the Coalition, and he remained closely associated with that statesman until 1801, acting for ten years as Home Secretary. -At Pitt's return to power in 1804 he became First Lord of the Admiralty, having in the meantime been created Viscount Melville and Baron Dunira in the interregnum of Addington. He was charged ' in 1805 with being concerned in the application of 'public money to speculative objects by his agent, Mr. Trotter, and to Pitt's great sorrow he was compelled to resign. A subsequent trial resulted in his acquittal, when he was restored to the Privy Council, but not to office. He died in 1811. His son and successor became First Lord of the Admiralty under Wellington in 1828.