Robert Melville

1723 - 1809


Biography

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.


Sources

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.


Further Information

Absentee?
Transatlantic
Oxford DNB Entry

Associated Estates (3)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
- 1809 [EY] → Owner
- 1809 [EY] → Owner
1780 [EA] - → Owner

Legacies Summary

Physical (1)

Country house
Craigton [Built] 
description →
Country house rebuilt by Robert Melville and later known as Mount Melville when occupied by John Whyte Melville (q.v.), the son of Robert Melville's heir John Whyte Melville of Bennochy, who extended...

Relationships (2)

Testator → Legatee
Testator → Legatee
Notes →
Robert Whyte Melville inherited the property of Robert Melville after the death of John Whyte Melville (Robert White Melville's father and Robert Melville's cousin and heir) in 1813. ...

Addresses (1)

Brewer Street, Golden Square, London, Middlesex, London, England