Robert Melville

Governor of the Ceded Islands 1764-1771, owner of Melville Hall (Dominica) and Carnbee (Tobago) estates. His heir was, according to his ODNB entry his cousin John Whyte Melville of Bennochy (who died in 1813). Some sources show erroneously John Whyte Melville (q.v.) (the son of John Whyte Melville of Bennochry or Bennochy) as succeeding to 'his uncle's' estate in 1809.

1. Robert Melville's Melville Hall estate in Dominica was valued at £33,190 16s 0d (currency) with 1027 acres in 1770; Carnbee, in Tobago, 200 acres, was valued at £4200. In Grenada he owned property (land, houses and enslaved people) valued at £7777 4s 0d current money.

2. The will of Robert Melvill [sic] General in HM's Forces of Brewer street near Golden Square was proved 24/11/1809. Under the will he bequeathed his property in Dominica and elsewhere to John Whyte Melville of Bennochy.

Rory T. Cornish, ‘Melville, Robert (1723–1809)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/18551, accessed 24 Nov 2013]. The entry gives Melville Hall erroneously as in Grenada.

1. A biographical sketch of General Robert Melville of Strathkinness, written by his Secretary, with notes by Evan. W. M. Balfour-Melville, B.A. http://www.electricscotland.com/history/scotreg/general_melville.pdf accessed 26/11/2013.

2. PROB 11/1505/368.