Modern English biography

MEEK, ROBERT. Ed. at St. John’s coll. Camb.; M.A. by abp. of Canterbury 1838; R. of Brixton Deverill, Wilts. 1834; P.C. of Hill Deverill, Wilts. 1837; R. of Richmond, Yorkshire 1838–43; R. of Sutton Bonnington, Notts. 1843 to death; author of The mutual recognition of glorified saints 1830, 3 ed. 1837; The church of England a faithful witness against the errors and corruptions of the church of Rome 1834; Passion week, a practical exposition 1835; Heavenly things or the blessed hope 1854; The martyr of Allahabad. Memorials of ensign A. M. H. Clark 1857; Ministering angels 1864. _d._ 1866. MEEKING, CHARLES (son of Charles Meeking of London). _b._ London 1800; draper and linen draper at 1 Broadway, Westminster 1823, moved to 62 Holborn Hill 1827, one of the first of the drapers to conduct a retail business on a thorough system; draper and outfitter Holborn Circus to death, having one of the largest establishments in London; J.P. for Bucks.; purchased Richings manor near Iver, Bucks., from John Sullivan in 1855. _d._ Richings park, Bucks. 7 Dec. 1872, personalty sworn under £250,000, 1 Feb. 1873. MEERES, NATHANIEL. _b._ 1791; ed. at St. John’s coll. Camb., B.D. 1840; C. of Cradley, Worcs. 1844–7; R. of Little Stambridge, Essex 1847 to death; author of Sermons preached at Somer’s chapel, St. Pancras 1843; Original psalms and hymns for the use of churches. Coventry 1845; School cyclopædia in verse 1851; Sermons 2 vols. 1851. _d._ at residence of rev. H. Meeres, Haddenham vicarage, Bucks. 26 March 1863. MEESON, ALFRED (son of Edward Meeson). _b._ 67 Aldermanbury, London 4 April 1808; architect and surveyor at Wakefield, Yorkshire; assisted sir Charles Barry as superintendent of constructional and engineering details of houses of parliament 1842 to completion; engineer in charge of houses of parliament residing in the building 1853; practised at 58 Pall Mall, London; employed on international exhibitions of 1851 and 1862 and on the erection of Covent Garden theatre 1858 and the Albert hall 1872; architect of the first Alexandra palace on Muswell hill 1873, palace was destroyed by fire 9 June 1873, joint architect of the second palace 1875; author with J. C. Boys of Thames sewage disposal scheme 1867. _d._ 4 Harley road, South Hampstead, London 12 Jany. 1885. MELBOURNE, FREDERICK JAMES LAMB, 3 Viscount (3 son of 1 viscount Melbourne 1745–1828). _b._ Melbourne house, Piccadilly, London 17 April 1782; ed. at Eton, Glasgow univ. and Trin. coll. Camb., M.A. 1803; sec. of legation at Palermo 1811; envoy to Munich 12 Sep. 1815 to 6 March 1820; P.C. 28 March 1822; envoy extraord. and min. plenipo. to Spain 18 Feb. 1825 to 28 Dec. 1827; ambassador to Lisbon 28 Dec. 1827 to May 1831; ambassador to Vienna 13 May 1831 to 16 Oct. 1841 when granted pension of £1700; created baron Beauvale of Beauvale, co. Nottingham 20 April 1839; succeeded his brother as 3 viscount 24 Nov. 1848; G.C.B. 13 Dec. 1827. _d._ Brockett hall, Herts. 29 Jany. 1853. _Saunders’s Portraits of reformers_ (1840) 28, _portrait_; _G.M. xxxix_ 309, 338 (1853); _Greville’s Journal_, _vol. i pt._ 3 _pp._ 35–7 (1874). MELDON, CHARLES HENRY (3 son of James Dillon Meldon). _b._ 5 June 1841; ed. at Stonyhurst and Ushaw colleges, and Trin. coll. Dublin, B.A. 1862, LL.B. and LL.D. 1874; member of senate of Dublin univ.; called to Irish bar 1863; had a large practice on the Home circuit; Q.C. 15 Feb. 1877; M.P. for co. Kildare 1874–85; first whip to the Home Rule party 1874–9. _d._ Dublin 15 May 1892. MELIA, PIUS. _b._ Rome 1800; professor of belles lettres, Jesuits’ college, Rome; a missionary priest in Corsica, Tuscany and other countries; came to England 1848, naturalized 13 Sep. 1849; in charge of mission at St. Leonards, removed to Walthamstow; almoner of the Italian Benevolent society, London 1863 to death; a member of the Pious society of musicians; officiated on Sundays at Brentwood and also preached to the Italians of London on Sunday afternoons; author of Doctrines of St. Thomas Aquinas on the rulers and members of Christian states, extracted and explained 1860; The origin, persecution and doctrines of the Waldenses 1870; Hints and facts on the origin of man and of his intellectual faculties 1872. _d._ University hospital, London 25 May 1883. _bur._ Kensal Green cemet. 30 May. NOTE.--Raphael Melia _b._ Rome, naturalised in England 13 Sep. 1849, was author of A treatise on auricular confession. London 1865; The woman blessed by all generations 1868; and The life of V. Pallotti, founder of The pious society of missions 1871. MELLER, WALTER (son of Thomas Wm. Meller of Denmark Hill, Surrey). _b._ 1818; a candidate for Southwark 1860 but did not go to the poll; M.P. for Stafford, July 1865 to Nov. 1868, elected again Nov. 1868 but unseated on petition 1869; lieut.-col. 1st Tower Hamlets artillery volunteers, hon. colonel 20 Feb. 1867. _d._ Brighton 10 Jany. 1886. MELLISH, SIR GEORGE (2 son of Edward Mellish, dean of Hereford, _d._ 1831). _b._ Tuddenham, Norfolk 19 Dec. 1814; ed. at Eton and Univ. coll. Oxf., Bennet scholar 1833–37, hon. fellow 1872–7; B.A. 1837, M.A. 1839, D.C.L. 1874; student at Inner Temple 6 Nov. 1837; practised as a special pleader 1840–48; barrister I.T. 9 June 1848, bencher 30 April 1861 to death, reader 1875; went northern circuit, of which he became leader; Q.C. 22 Feb. 1861; lord justice of appeal 4 Aug. 1870 to death; P.C. 9 Aug. 1870; knighted at Osborn 9 Aug. 1870. _d._ 33 Lowndes square, London 15 June 1877. _A generation of judges. By Their reporter_ (1886) 95–111; _Law mag. and law review_, _iii_ 55–65 (1877); _I.L.N. lviii_ 471, 473 (1870), _portrait_. MELLISH, GEORGE LILLY (2 son of William Mellish an officer in the army). _b._ Guernsey 1834 or 1835; ed. at Elizabeth coll. Guernsey, at Exeter coll. Oxf. 1852, scholar of Pembroke coll. 1854; rowed No. 7 in Oxford boat against Cambridge 8 April 1854; resident magistrate Christ Church, Canterbury, New Zealand. _d._ Christ Church, Dec. 1881. MELLISH, RICHARD CHARLES. Clerk in foreign office 5 Jany. 1824; attached to embassy at Constantinople, March 1828 to March 1830; gentleman usher to queen Adelaide 10 Nov. 1834 to 2 Dec. 1849; sec. to earl of Wilton’s mission to court of Saxony 17 Sep. 1842; K.H. April 1842; retired on a superannuation allowance 1 Jany. 1855. _d._ Eaton place, London 29 Dec. 1865. _Foreign office list_ (1866) 177. MELLON, ALFRED. _b._ Birmingham 7 or 17 April 1820; member of orchestra of Birmingham theatre 1835, leader 7 years; a violinist in the opera house, London; musical director at Adelphi theatre, London 1844; leader of the ballet music at Royal Italian opera, Covent Garden 1847; musical director at Haymarket theatre; conductor of the Pyne and Harrison English opera company at Covent Garden 1857–9, where was produced his opera Victorine 1859; conductor of the Musical Society; conductor of a series of promenade concerts given under his name at Covent Garden 1865, also of a series at Lyceum Aug. to Sep. 1861; conductor of Liverpool philharmonic society, Sep. 1865; (_m._ Sarah Jane Woolgar, actress _b._ 1824); composer of My pretty bark, a song 1846; Crowned with clusters of the vine, a glee for four voices 1850; The heart’s appeal, canzonet 1850; The overture to Uncle Tom’s cabin 1853; Rondo, the siren of the ball 1857; The May waltz 1865; many of the songs, pieces of dance music &c. from the opera of Victorine were also published in 1860. _d._ The Vale, King’s road, Chelsea 27 March 1867. _bur._ Brompton cemet. 2 April. _Era 31 March 1867 p._ 10 and _7 April p._ 11; _Illust. sporting news_, _iv_ 441 (1865) _portrait_, _v_ 504 (1866), _portrait_; _Illust. Times 6 April 1867 p._ 216, _portrait_. MELLON, HENRY. _b._ Dublin 7 April 1808; midshipman during two years; first appeared as Steadfast in The heir at law; leading tragedian on the York circuit; on the Norwich circuit; joined Macready’s company at Drury Lane, Dec. 1841, soon after played the duke in Merchant of Venice; acted Irish characters at Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin; acted under Phelps and Greenwood at Sadler’s Wells 1844–60; played captain Fairweather in Boucicault’s Streets of London, at Princess’s 1 Aug. 1864; played The ghost in Hamlet, at Lyceum 11 Nov. 1867; acted Dr. Trotway in W. S. Gilbert’s Randall’s Thumb, at Court theatre 25 Jany. 1871. _d._ Park lodge, Clyde road, Tottenham, Middlesex 25 Nov. 1876. _Theatrical Times_, _ii_ 321, 338 (1847), _portrait_; _E. L. Blanchard’s Life_, _i_ 294, 347, _ii_ 393, 462 (1891). MELLOR, ENOCH (son of James Mellor, woollen manufacturer). _b._ Salendine Nook near Huddersfield 20 Nov. 1823; ed. Huddersfield coll. 1838–41 and at Edinb. univ. 1841; M.A. 1845, D.D. 1870; congregational minister of the Square road ch. Halifax 1848–61; minister at Liverpool 1861–7 and again at Halifax 1867 to death; chairman of congregational union of England and Wales 1863; author of Not your own, a sermon 1858, 2 ed. 1858; The atonements, its relation to pardon 1859, to which two replies were made; The searcher searched, or H. Carpenter confronted with the truth 1862; Ritualism and its related dogmas 1867; Disestablishment, what good will it do? a reply to canon Ryles 1873; In the footsteps of heroes and other sermons 1885. _d._ Shaw Royd, Halifax 26 Oct. 1881. _Congregationalist_, _ix_ 617–20 (1880) _portrait_, _x_ 1000–1011 (1881); _E. Mellor’s The hem of Christ’s garment_ (1882), _biographical sketch pp. v–xxxi_; _Congregational Year book_ (1882) _pp._ 315–8. MELLOR, SIR JOHN (only son of John Mellor of Leicester, _d._ 1861). _b._ Hollinwood house, Oldham 1 Jany. 1809; ed. at Leicester gr. sch.; pupil of Thomas Chitty special pleader 4 years; barrister I.T. 7 June 1833, bencher 21 Nov. 1851 to Dec. 1861 and 1877 to death; went Midland circuit, became leader 1851; recorder of Warwick May 1848, resigned April 1852; recorder of Leicester Feb. 1855 to 1861; Q.C. 8 July 1851; serjeant-at-law 13 Jany. 1862; contested Warwick 1852 and Coventry 1857; M.P. Great Yarmouth 1857–9, M.P. Nottingham 1859–61; justice of court of queen’s bench 3 Dec. 1861, retired 11 June 1879 on pension of £3500; knighted by patent 11 June 1862; member of special commission which tried the Fenian prisoners at Manchester 1867; one of the judges who tried Arthur Orton for perjury in the Tichborne case 1873; P.C. 26 June 1879; acted frequently as arbitrator in important cases; author of Lectures on the Christian church before the reformation 1857; John Selden 1859; Suggestions as to oaths 1882. _d._ 16 Sussex sq. Bayswater, London 26 April 1887. _bur._ Kingsdown churchyard, Dover 30 April. _Law Journal_, _xxii_ 250–1, 259–60 (1887); _Times 28 April 1887 p._ 5. MELVILL, HENRY (5 son of Philip Melvill 1762–1811, lieut. governor of Pendennis castle Falmouth 1797–1811). _b._ Pendennis castle 14 Sep. 1798; a sizar of St. John’s coll. Camb. Oct. 1817; migrated to St. Peter’s coll., fellow and tutor 1822–32; second wrangler 1821, B.A. 1821, M.A. 1824, B.D. 1836; incumbent of Camden chapel, Camberwell, London 1829–43; chaplain at the Tower of London 6 April 1840 to March 1863; principal of East India college, Haileybury 1843 till college was closed 7 Dec. 1857; Golden lecturer at St. Margaret’s, Lothbury, London 1850–6; one of chaplains to the queen 13 June 1853 to death; canon residentiary of St. Paul’s 21 April 1856 to death; R. of Barnes, Surrey 1863 to 1870; the most popular preacher in London and one of the greatest rhetoricians of his time; author of Sermons 2 vols. 1833–8, 6 ed. 1870; Sermons on certain of the less prominent facts and references in sacred story 2 vols. 1843–5, new ed. 1872; The Golden lectures for the years 1850 to 1856, 6 vols. 1856, new ed. 1876; Selections from the sermons preached in the parish church of Barnes and in the cathedral of St. Paul’s 2 vols. 1872. _d._ Amen corner, St. Paul’s churchyard, London 9 Feb. 1871. _bur._ St. Paul’s cathedral 15 Feb. _Grant’s Metropolitan Pulpit_, _ii_ 1–21 (1839); _Ritchie’s London Pulpit_ (1858) 60–8; _Johnson’s Popular Preachers_ (1863) 189–201; _The lamps of the temple 3 ed._ (1856) 210–41; _Roose’s Ecclesiastica_ (1842) 410–13; _I.L.N. iv_ 48 (1844) _portrait_, _lviii_ 163 (1871); _Boase and Courtney’s Bibl. Cornub. pp._ 345–8, 1279–80; _Illust. news of the world_ (1862), _portrait_. MELVILL, SIR JAMES COSMO (brother of the preceding). _b._ Guernsey 1792; entered civil service of H.E.I.C. at home Feb. 1808; auditor of India accounts 1824; financial sec. to H.E.I.C. 1834; sec. to H.E.I.C. 1836–58; F.R.S. 14 Jany. 1841; K.C.B. 5 Sep. 1853. _d._ Tandridge court, Godstone, Surrey 23 July 1860. MELVILL, SIR MAXWELL (son of rev. Henry Melvill 1798–1871). _b._ 10 Oct. 1833; ed. at Tonbridge sch. 1846–51, at Trin. coll. Camb. 1851–3, and at Haileybury coll. 1853–5; entered Bombay civil service Nov. 1855; assist. judge at Konkan 1858–60; assist. commissioner in Scinde 1862–6, judicial comr. in Scinde 1866–9; puisne judge of high court at Bombay 1871 to March 1883; judge in Parsee matrimonial court 1873–83; member of council of governor of Bombay 8 April 1884 to death; C.S.I. 1886; K.C.I.E. 15 Feb. 1887. _d._ of cholera Ganish Kind house near Poona 5 Aug. 1887. _bur._ Kirkee cemetery 6 Aug. _Phirozsha Dhanjibhoy’s Life of sir M. Melville_ (1887), _portrait_; _Times 8 Aug. 1887 p._ 5, _15 Aug. p._ 6. MELVILL, TEIGNMOUTH (son of Philip Melvill of H.E.I.C.S., _d._ Ethy, Liskeard 4 Oct. 1882). _b._ 1843; ed. at Harrow and Trin. coll. Camb., B.A. 1865; ensign 24 foot 20 Oct. 1865, lieut. 2 Dec. 1868 to death, adjutant 7 March 1873 to death; at Isandlana, Natal, he saved the colours, which were found wrapped around his dead body 22 Jany. 1879; Sarah Elizabeth his widow granted civil list pension of £100, 19 June 1879; contributed to Baily’s mag. under pseudonym of ‘Green Facings.’ _Graphic xix_ 272 (1879), _portrait_; _I.L.N. lxxiv_ 277, 282, 554, 560 (1879), _portrait_; _F. C. Burnand’s The A.D.C._ (1880) 256–7. MELVILLE, ROBERT SAUNDERS DUNDAS, 2 Viscount (only son of Henry Dundas, 1 Viscount Melville 1742–1811). _b._ 14 March 1771; ed. at High school of Edinburgh and Emm. coll. Camb.; M.P. Hastings 1794–6, M.P. Rye 1796–1801; assumed name of Saunders 1796; M.P. co. of Edinburgh 1801–11; P.C. 26 March 1807; president of board of control for India 6 April 1807 to 17 July 1809 and 13 Nov. 1809 to 7 April 1812; chief sec. of Ireland 13 April 1809 to 18 Oct. 1809; succeeded his father as 2 viscount 29 May 1811; lord keeper of privy seal for Scotland 20 July 1811; first lord of the admiralty with a seat in the cabinet 25 March 1812 to 2 May 1827 and 19 Sep. 1828 to 25 Nov. 1830; an elder brother of the Trinity house 1809 to death; chancellor of univ. of St. Andrews 7 Feb. 1814 to death; K.T. 17 July 1821; F.R.S. 15 May 1817; F.R.A.S. _d._ Melville castle near Edinb. 10 June 1851. _bur._ in family vault Lasswade church 17 June. _J. E. Doyle’s_ _Official baronage_, _ii_ 494 (1886), _portrait_; _G.M. xxxvi_ 191 (1851); _I.L.N xviii_ 538 (1851); _Jerdan’s National portrait gallery_ (1831) _vol._ 2, _portrait_ 17 _and pp._ 8. MELVILLE, HENRY DUNDAS, 3 Viscount (eld. child of the preceding). _b._ Melville castle, Lasswade near Edinb. 25 Feb. 1801; ensign coldstream guards 18 Nov. 1819; major 28 foot 31 Jany. 1828 to 3 Dec. 1829; lieut.-col. 83 foot 3 Dec. 1829 to 2 Aug. 1842 when placed on h.p.; lieut.-col. rifle corps 26 July 1844 to 20 June 1854; brigadier Punjaub field force 1848–9; colonel of 100 foot 22 June 1858 to 28 Sep. 1862; colonel of 32 foot 28 Sep. 1862 to 1 April 1863; colonel commandant 60 rifles 1 April 1863 to death; general 1 Jany. 1868; C.B. 30 March 1839, K.C.B. 9 June 1849, G.C.B. 28 March 1865; succeeded as 3 viscount 10 June 1851; commander of forces in Scotland and governor of Edinburgh castle 29 Jany. 1855 to 1860; president of royal company of archers 1860. _d._ Melville castle 1 Feb.