John Melvill

Original purchaser of the Lots in St Andrew Tobago that became Carnbees.

1. A John Melvill was a member of HM Council on Grenada and came into conflict with William Leyborne Leyborne in 1768. In 1774 John Melvill formerly of this island [i.e. Grenada] but now of Tobago was shown as having made technical improvements in sugar production. John Melvill merchant of Grenada in 1768 was associated in a genealogical history with Allan Melvill of Boston, who had left Scotland after the '45 and was followed by his brother John from Leven Fife in 1757: the brothers were partners in Boston until Allan's death in 1761, and the source claims were related to Governor Robert Melville. It appears possible that these three sources refer to the same man. However, Douglas Hamilton identified a Dr John Melvill on Dominica as instrumental in the accumulation by Governor Robert Melville of the estate on Dominica that became Melville Hall.

1. Donald Polson, 'The Tolerated, the Indulged and the Contented: Ethnic Alliances and Rivalries in Grenadian Plantation Society 1763-1800' (University of Warwick PhD Thesis: 2011) p. 81; Pennsylvania Register from Philadlephia 21/02/1774 p. 2; Proceedings of the Bostonian Society, Annual Meeting January 16 1917 Walter K. Watkins, 'The Melvill House in Green Street', pp. 26-37 at pp. 28-29; Douglas Hamilton, Scotland, the Caribbean and the Atlantic World p.64.