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Impeachment of Henry Dundas

The Right Honourable
The Viscount Melville
PC FRSE
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville by Sir Thomas Lawrence.jpg
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office
May 1804 – May 1805
Monarch George III
Prime Minister Hon. William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by Earl of St. Vincent
Succeeded by Lord Barham
Secretary of State for War
In office
July 1794 – March 1801
Monarch George III
Prime Minister Hon. William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by New Office
Succeeded by Lord Hobart
President of the Board of Control
In office
June 1793 – May 1801
Monarch George III
Prime Minister Hon. William Pitt the Younger
Henry Addington
Preceded by Lord Grenville
Succeeded by Viscount Lewisham
Home Secretary
In office
8 June 1791 – 11 July 1794
Monarch George III
Prime Minister Hon. William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by The Lord Grenville
Succeeded by The Duke of Portland
Lord Advocate
In office
24 May 1775 – August 1783
Monarch George III
Prime Minister Lord North
Marquess of Rockingham
Earl of Shelburne
Duke of Portland
Preceded by Sir James Montgomery
Succeeded by The Hon. Henry Erskine
Personal details
Born (1742-04-28)28 April 1742
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died 28 May 1811(1811-05-28) (aged 69)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Citizenship Great Britain
Nationality Scottish
Political party Tory
Spouse(s) (1) Elizabeth Rennie
(2) Lady Jane Hope
(died 1829)
Children Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville
Alma mater University of Edinburgh

Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, PC, FRSE (28 April 1742, Edinburgh, Scotland – 28 May 1811, Edinburgh) was a Scottish advocate and Tory politician. He was the first Secretary of State for War and became, in 1806, the last person to be impeached in the United Kingdom, for misappropriation of public money. Although acquitted, he never held public office again.

Dundas was a key actor in the encouragement of the Scottish Enlightenment, in the prosecution of the war against France, in opposing the abolition of slavery, and in the expansion of British influence in India, dominating the affairs of the East India Company. An accomplished machine politician and scourge of the Radicals, his deft and almost total control of Scottish politics during a long period when no monarch visited the country, led to him being pejoratively nicknamed King Harry the Ninth, the "Grand Manager of Scotland" (a play on the masonic office of Grand Master of Scotland), the "Great Tyrant" and "The Uncrowned King of Scotland".

He is commemorated by one of the most prominent memorials in Edinburgh, the 150-foot high, Category A listed Melville Monument at St Andrew Square, in the heart of the New Town he helped to establish.


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