David Melville

David Melville was awarded the compensation for two linked claims that appear in the compensation records as 'Frediwijk' but might well be Zuidwijk. David Melville, probably the same man, was one of the two curators of the estate of Wm Kewley awarded compensation for Kewley's Mary' Hope estate. It is possible that this is David Seton Melville who was born in Fifeshire, Scotland (and reportedly third cousin of the Earl of Leven and Melville). If so....

1. Accompanied his friend, Governor Bentinck, Henry William Bentinck (1765-1820) (uncle of Henry John William Bentinck 1796 – 1868 [q.v.]) to British Guiana as Aide-de-Camp. Returned briefly to Scotland to marry then, on returning to British Guiana ‘realized a handsome fortune from his coffee plantations’. Retired to Scotland ‘as a gentleman of independent means’, but was ruined by large investments in railway shares around 1846. About 1849 migrated with his family to Melbourne, Australia and then moved to Adelaide. (He was friends with Sir Henry Young, the Governor.) Melville commenced business as a broker. Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce for some years and one of the Directors of the Adelaide Branch of the Church of England Insurance Company at the time of his death.

2. All the children of David and Sarah (including, probably, the youngest, Mary Babington) were born in British Guiana: Isabella (1831–1886); Sarah (1832 –?) (died in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England), Alexander (1835–1871) (died in Adelaide), David Seton (1836 – ?), Mary Babington (1838–?). David Seton Melville the younger was, at the time of his father's death, Manager of the Union Bank of Australia, Christchurch, New Zealand.

1. South Australian Register (Adelaide), 17 June 1874.

2. ibid. and Hamilton Family Tree on Ancestry.co.uk.

We are very grateful to Helen Forster for help with this entry.