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Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville

The Right Honourable
The Viscount Melville
KT PC FRS
Robert Saunders Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville.jpg
President of the Board of Control
In office
1807–1809
Monarch George III
Prime Minister The Duke of Portland
Preceded by Thomas Grenville
Succeeded by The Lord Harrowby
In office
1809–1812
Monarch George III
Prime Minister Hon. Spencer Perceval
Preceded by The Lord Harrowby
Succeeded by The Earl of Buckinghamshire
Chief Secretary for Ireland
In office
1809–1809
Monarch George III
Prime Minister The Duke of Portland
Preceded by Hon. Sir Arthur Wellesley
Succeeded by Hon. William Wellesley-Pole
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office
1812–1827
Monarch George III
George IV
Prime Minister The Earl of Liverpool
Preceded by Charles Philip Yorke
Succeeded by The Duke of Clarence
(Lord High Admiral)
In office
1828–1830
Monarch George IV
Prime Minister The Duke of Wellington
Preceded by The Duke of Clarence
(Lord High Admiral)
Succeeded by Sir James Graham, Bt
Personal details
Born 14 March 1771 (1771-03-14)
Edinburgh
Died 10 June 1851 (1851-06-11) (aged 80)
Melville Castle, Midlothian
Nationality British
Spouse(s) Anne Saunders (d. 1841)
Alma mater University of Göttingen
University of Edinburgh
Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville KT PC FRS (14 March 1771 – 10 June 1851) was a British statesman, the son of Henry Dundas, the 1st Viscount. Dundas was the Member of Parliament for Hastings in 1794, Rye in 1796 and Midlothian in 1801. He was also Keeper of the Signet for Scotland from 1800. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1807, a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1817, a Knight of the Thistle in 1821, and was Chancellor of the University of St Andrews from 1814. Melville filled various political offices and was First Lord of the Admiralty from 1812 to 1827, and from 1828 to 1830; his eldest son inherited his title.

He was born in Edinburgh on 14 March 1771, the only son of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, and Elizabeth (1751–1843). Educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, he went in 1786 on a continental tour and enrolled at Göttingen University. He studied afterwards at Edinburgh University and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and was admitted at Lincoln's Inn in 1788. After a successful attempt at law he became his father's private secretary from 1794, though he was brought in as MP for Hastings in 1794, and then Rye in 1796. The same year, on 29 August, he married an heiress, Anne Saunders (died 10 Sept 1841), and took her name beside his own. They had four sons and two daughters; their eldest son, Henry Dundas, later third Viscount Melville, became an army officer while their second son, Richard Saunders Dundas, became First Naval Lord.


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