Viscount Melville

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Viscount Melville" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Viscount Melville, of Melville in the County of Edinburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

The title was created on 24 December 1802 for the notable lawyer and politician Henry Dundas. He was created Baron Dunira, of Dunira in the County of Perth, at the same time, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.^[1] Dundas, who was the fourth son of Robert Dundas, of Arniston, the elder, declined an earldom in 1809.

He was succeeded by his son, the second Viscount, who was also a noted politician. He assumed for himself the additional surname of Saunders, which was that of his father-in-law. His son, the third Viscount, was a General in the British Army. The latter was succeeded by his younger brother, the fourth Viscount, who in his turn was succeeded by his nephew, the fifth Viscount, the eldest son of Reverend the Honourable Charles Dundas, Rector of Epworth, Lincolnshire, fourth son of the second Viscount. The fifth Viscount was succeeded by his younger brother, the sixth Viscount, a minor diplomat. The titles descended from father to son until the death of the sixth Viscount's grandson, the eighth Viscount, in 1971. The latter was succeeded by his nephew, the ninth Viscount, the eldest son of the Honourable Robert Maldred St John Melville Dundas, second son of the seventh Viscount. As of 2014^[update] the titles are held by the ninth Viscount's eldest son, the tenth Viscount, who succeeded in 2011.

The family seat is Melville Castle between Dalkeith and Lasswade.^[2] The first five viscounts (including Henry Dundas) are buried in a simple vault (gated but unlocked) in Old Lasswade Kirkyard. The 6th Viscount Melville, Charles Saunders Dundas, lies opposite his wife, Mary Hamilton Dundas, in the small north cemetery in Lasswade, adjacent to the old kirkyard. Their son, the 7th Viscount merely appears as a footnote on the monument.

• Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742–1811)
• Robert Saunders–Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville (1771–1851) and son of 1st Viscount
• Henry Dundas, 3rd Viscount Melville (1801–1876) son of 2nd Viscount
• Robert Dundas, 4th Viscount Melville (1803–1886) son of 2nd Viscount and brother of the 3rd
• Henry Dundas, 5th Viscount Melville (1835–1904) nephew of 2nd Viscount
• Charles Saunders Dundas, 6th Viscount Melville (1843–1926) brother of 5th Viscount
• Henry Charles Clement Dundas, 7th Viscount Melville (1873–1935) son of 6th Viscount
• Henry Charles Patric Brouncker Dundas, 8th Viscount Melville (1909–1971) and son of 7th Viscount
• Robert David Ross Dundas, 9th Viscount Melville (1937–2011) and nephew of 8th Viscount
• Robert Henry Kirkpatrick Dundas, 10th Viscount Melville (b. 1984) and son of 9th Viscount ^[3]

The heir apparent is the present holder's son Hon. Max David Henry Dundas (b. 2018)^[4]

Coat of arms of Viscount Melville

Crest A lion's head affronteé Gules struggling through an oak bush all Proper. Escutcheon Argent a lion rampant Gules within a bordure Azure charged with three boars' heads couped Or two in chief and one in base. Supporters Dexter a leopard reguardant, sinister a stag, both Proper.[5] Motto Essayez (top); Quod Potui Perfecti (bottom)

• Dunira, Perthshire

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, ^{[page needed]}
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages ^{[self-published source] [better source needed]}

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Robert David Ross Dundas, 9th Viscount Melville