IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0120 MSS.5120-5121
Held at: Wellcome Library
Title: Dundas, Henry, (1742-1811), 1st Viscount Melville
Date(s): 1783-1811
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 105 items
Name of creator(s): Dundas | Henry | 1742-1811 | 1st Viscount Melville | Scots statesman x Melville | 1st Viscount
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Henry Dundas was born 28 April 1742. He was educated at Edinburgh High School and Edinburgh University and was admitted as a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1763. His family connections and skills as a public orator ensured him a thriving business as a barrister and at the age of twenty-four he was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland. From October 1774-1790 Henry Dundas served as a member of the House of Commons and in 1775 he was appointed Lord Advocate, a post he held until 1783. Henry Dundas' links with India began in April 1781 when he was appointed chairman of a secret committee on the war in the Carnatic and British possessions in India. The following year Dundas was appointed Minister Treasurer of the Navy, entered the Privy Council and took the office of the Keeper of the Scotch Signet. Although Dundas lost his job as Minister Treasurer of the Navy in 1783 he was made a member of the Board of Control for India in 1784 and became its President from 1793-1802. During this period he held a number of other political appointments most notably from 1791-1794 as Home Secretary, during which he defended the East India Company as Secretary of War in 1794 and as Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland in 1800. He was created Viscount Melville in 1802 and was First Lord of the Admiralty from May 1804-1805. It was following this appointment that he was accused of using monies for purposes other than the Navy. In June 1805 he was called upon to defend himself in the House of Commons and there was some debate over whether he should stand trial or face impeachment. The impeachment before the House of Lords took place in April 1806 and eventually Dundas was acquitted of all charges. He never again held public office and died on 28 May 1811.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Correspondence and papers of the statesman Henry Dundas both general and in his capacity as Commissioner (later President) of the Board of Control, 1783-1811.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Conditions governing access:
The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.
Finding aids:
Described in: Richard Palmer, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine: Western Manuscripts 5120-6244 (London: The Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine, 1999).
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Purchased from Bernard Halliday, Leicester, 25 March 1927, item 161, from Sotheby's 13-14 November 1933, lot 206, and at various sales, 1927-35. Items 72-75 were purchased from R D Gurney Ltd, 1990.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
In the Wellcome Library:
For an additional item, sent to Dundas by Thomas Forrest in 1791, see MS. 1721/6.
Papers of Robert Saunders-Dundas (1771-1851), 2nd Viscount Melville, are held as MS.5122.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.
Date(s) of descriptions: Jan 2009