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A triumphal column, with the subject standing in the formal robes of a peer. A plaque added in 2020 reads: 'On the plinth at the centre of St Andrew Square stands a neoclassical column with a statue at the top. This represents Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742–1811). He was the Scottish Lord Advocate and an MP for Edinburgh and Midlothian, and the First Lord of the Admiralty. Dundas was a contentious figure, provoking controversies that resonate to this day. While Home Secretary in 1792 and first Secretary of State for War in 1796 he was instrumental in deferring the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. Slave trading by British ships was not abolished until 1807. As a result of this delay, more than half a million enslaved Africans crossed the Atlantic.
Dundas both defended and expanded the British empire, imposing colonial rule on indigenous peoples. He was impeached in the United Kingdom for misappropriation of public money and although acquitted, he never held public office again. Despite this, the monument before you to Henry Dundas was funded by voluntary contribution from officers, petty officers, seamen and marines and erected in 1821, with the statue placed on top in 1827.
In 2020 this was dedicated to the memory of the more than half a million Africans whose enslavement was a consequence of Henry Dundas’s actions.'
Title
Henry Dundas (1742–1811), 1st Viscount Melville
Date
1817–1827
Medium
Cullalo sandstone & Nethanfoot or Threepwood sandstone
Measurements
H 420 x W (?) x D (?) cm (E);
Plinth: H 3550 x W 370 x D 370 cm
Accession number
EH2_GB_S019
Work type
Statue
Owner
City of Edinburgh Council
Custodian
City of Edinburgh Council
Work status
extant
Listing status
A (Scotland)
Listing date
13/01/66
Access
at all times
Inscription description
THE MELVILLE / MONUMENT / ERECTED IN 1823 IN MEMORY / OF HENRY DUNDAS (1742-1811) / FIRST VISCOUNT MELVILLE AND / A DOMINANT FIGURE IN POLITICS / FOR OVER FOUR DECADES. BESIDES / BEING TREASURER TO THE NAVY HE / WAS LORD ADVOCATE & KEEPER OF THE / SCOTTISH SIGNET. THE SUBSCRIPTION / FOR THE MONUMENT WAS RAISED BY / MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL NAVY. / IT WAS DESIGNED BY WILLIAM BURN, / AND THE STATUE IS BY CHANTRY.
