The Crislich Mystery

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MISSING MELVILLES - THE CRISLICH MYSTERY

On 15 December 1813 at Golspie Inn Donald Matheson offered £56 and Sergeant Melville £52 for the yearly rent of the tenancies of Sutherland Estate property at Crislich, Foick and Coppernusgach.  Those tenancies were situated in the parish of Clyne, Sutherland , Scotland in an area to the north west of Loch Brora on a tributary of the River Brora called the Black Water.  It would appear from the records that Sergeant Melville was allowed to remain at a yearly rent of £60.  The suggestion that he could remain indicates that he had the tenancies before 1813 and there is evidence in the 1815 records that he still held the lands in then at a rent of £60 per annum.

There were many Melvilles in the parish of Clyne and some in the parish of Golspie throughout the latter part of the 18th century and the 19th century.  Those Melvilles were all inter-related and possibly descended from a single ancestor or family resident in the area in the late sixteen hundreds or early seventeen hundreds.  Alexander of Crislich was from the lines of Melvilles in which I have a principal interest though there may still be a little doubt as to his exact position within this family.

It is clear for the various records that Sergeant Melville and Alexander Melville were one and the same person mentioned in the 1813 and 1815 tenancies.  He was quite possibly the son of John Melville of Doll and his spouse Helen MacDonald though Alexander Melville and Sarah Mackay are also an outside possibility.  A further indication that the period of tenancy was more than just a few years is the fact that Alexander Melville of Crislich was married to a Margaret Graham and of their five children born between 1806 and 1816 their third and fifth children were noted as born at Crislich.  The Old Parish entry for the fourth child was less specific just indicating Clyne.

The family disappeared from the area around 1820 and despite much searching only one clue to their possible whereabouts came to light. 

In response to an article I had published in the Highland Family History Society Journal entitled ‘The Melvilles of the Doll’, correspondence was received from Dr Bangor-Jones, an authority on the Clearances in Sutherland, that the Melville family had left for Dundee .  I have no proof, as yet, that they did indeed go there and no proof as to where Alexander and Margaret finally settled. However, later research suggests they might have gone to Edinburgh due to a family member being found there The search goes on in that area for the couple themselves.

Below the OPR entries for the five children of  Alexander Melville and Margaret Graham:

      

      

                                           

Below a section from the OPR for the birth of first born, John Melvin.  The spelling is variable in the OPRs but throughout this work I have, in the text, used the modern spelling used by the family from the middle of the 19th Century, ie Melville.

        

The Children of Alexander Melville and Margaret Graham of Crislich born between 1806 and 1816.

John                 Born 15 August 1806 in Dole of Brora

Katherine        Born 18 January 1808 in Clyne

Margaret          Born 25 January 1810 at Crislich

Jean                 Born 16 February 1814 in Clyne

William            Born 29 December 1816 Crislich

The trail having run cold research in other areas of the family history was called for.  Much material has been received from correspondents in Australia and New Zealand .  In particular a descendant of Clyne Melvilles, Richard Snedden in New South Wales, Australia, provided material of great interest and with much detail on the Clyne Melvilles and related families who went to the southern hemisphere.  Material from Richard Snedden and the late Heather Melville in New Zealand , another Melville researcher, threw up the name of Adam Graham Melville, Bookseller of Melbourne, who married two sisters from Brora in Sutherland who were, in fact, his cousins.

It seemed reasonable to speculate that this Adam Graham Melville might be connected to the missing Alexander Melville and Margaret Graham.  The reason for this speculation centred on the fact that Adam had married two sisters, his cousins, named Melville and that his own name indicated he was a Melville with a link to a Graham family.  Either clue, taken by itself, might have been coincidental but the two taken together suggested further research was necessary.   Where to start searching for proof was the big question.

Research in Australia by Richard Snedden unearthed some remarkable information on Adam.  He did not only marry two sisters but also married for a third time.  His first wife was Isabella Melville, born 1837, the daughter of John Melville and Roberta Pope.  This couple lived out their lives in Clyne had nine children and at least six of whom went to Australia , one via New Zealand .  Adam’s second wife, Mary Melville, born 1844, was the sixth child of John and Roberta. The third woman he wed was an Elizabeth McKenney or Trennery.  She was the first of six children born to Jacob McKenney and Emily O’Donnell and the widow of John Trennery.  At the time of her marriage to Adam her occupation was given as ‘companion’.  The marriage was firstly a civil one on 28th October 1901 and later the couple had a religious marriage in the Church of England in 1902.

Though Isabella was born in Loth in Sutherland her family were from Clyne parish and died in 1870 in Melbourne , Australia .  She married Adam Graham Melville, who was born in Edinburgh in 1842, in Edinburgh on 10th April 1860.  He was given as aged 19 years and a Bookseller of 12 Calton Hill and she was described as a spinster of 19 years also of 12 Calton Hill.  It was noted that although Adam and Isabella gave their address as 12 Calton Hill at marriage they were not listed there in the 1861 census nor in the street directory of that year. This fact suggested that by that time they were on their way to Australia .

As can be seen above, Adam and Isabella were married at Viewfirth Free Church, Newington , Edinburgh and described as ‘cousins german’.  Information unearthed later indicated they went to Australia in 1860 and their son, John, was born and died there in 1863.  Little is known about their life together in Edinburgh or Australia . It would appear that Isabella went to Edinburgh to work and probably was employed by or, at least, resided with Adam’s family.  Adam himself served his apprenticeship in the book business, according to an Australian source, for the Edinburgh firm of Gall and Inglis.

The area of Edinburgh in which Adam Graham Melville lived with his father John and the rest of the family was on the edge of the old and new towns and on the slopes of Calton Hill.  The area is well described in a book by Ann Mitchell, ‘The People of Calton Hill’, and though the area surrounding the hill is much changed today the hill itself would still be recognisable to Adam.

            

                           

The area described by Ann Mitchell’s book covers much more than that of interest in this research with many other streets around Calton Hill described in great detail.  The Melvilles, it would appear, resided in the steep street actually known as Calton Hill situated on the western edge of the geographic feature.  Today all that remains are the houses on this west side, a dozen or so, and 14 Calton Hill to the north west .  It is a pity that number 12, the home of the Melvilles, and the numbers below that have not survived.  Demolition took place to make way for a roadway and a multi-storey car park. The remaining houses have, of course, been much changed internally and outwardly. They are fine, strong structures belying their early date of construction.

In the early days a number of trades, including a wright, a mason, a cooper and a bricklayer, were represented by the residents of Calton Hill and some notable early residents included accountants, a solicitor and a writer.  By the end of the 17th century and until her death in 1841 the celebrated friend of the poet Robert Burns, Agnes Maclehose, better known as Clarinda, lived at number 14 Calton Hill.

Ann Mitchell’s book makes much use of post office directory information and information collected at the ten yearly census.  She mentions that in 1833 there were thirty-six separate households recorded and in 1841 over sixty.  The latter figure was boosted not just by an increase in population but also by the inclusion of lodgers in the census return and not just householders.  The street was a busy place with 324 residents and was described once as a ‘steep, narrow, stinking, spiral street’.  There were, as noted by Ann Mitchell, many and varied occupations and Adam’s father, John Melville, brass founder and plumber, was just one of the many tradesmen making a living in the area.

                

Above the upper entry to Calton Hill  on the left and the steps to the Hill on the right.

 

 

 

Above is the memorial to Clarinda in the Canongate   Kirk Cemetery , Royal Mile, Edinburgh . Who the end of the 17th century and until her death in 1841 lived at number 14 Calton Hill.  Near to where the Melvilles were to reside at number 12 Calton Hill

The birth record in the OPRs for Adam Graham Melville indicated that his father was a John Melville and his mother Agnes Lawson.  This information had been available from Australia though in a source there his mother had been given as Agnes Moses.  A marriage for John Melville and Agnes Lawson had been noted from the fiche but the conflicting names left some doubt.  On examination of the OPR the name Lawson was confirmed and further research showed that Agnes Lawson’s mother was a Sarah Moses.  Clearly an error had been made on the Australian record.  Agnes’s father was William Lawson. 

The entry in the OPR for 1829 for the marriage of John Melville and Agnes Lawson is as follows;

           

John Melville, Plumber, residing in No. 3A Carnegie Street and Agnes Lawson

residing in No. 1 Dalrymple Place both in this Parish, Daughter of the deceased

William Lawson late soldier of the 1st Dragoon Guards, have been three times

proclaimed in order to marriage, in the Parish Church of St. Cuthbert’s and no

objections have been offered.  Married on the second day of October thereafter

by the Reverend John Johnstone minister of the Relief Congregation, Roxburgh

Place.

Unfortunately this OPR, like many, was not as full as hoped for with John Melville’s parents not given.

However, his Death Certificate was much more helpful. This indicated John’s parentage - John Melville, Plumber, aged 52 years son of Alexander Melville, Merchant, and Margaret Graham, both deceased.  Clear evidence that while Alexander Melville and Margaret Graham could not be found after their removal from Crislich one of their children could be identified.

Adam had at least ten brothers and sisters though possibly more as five children died in infancy and one son, Robert, was described on the gravestone shared with his father as being the seventh son though this does not tally with the located births.   This Robert died at only 26 years of age in 1870.  Since some of those children died young and since it would appear that the family moved to the Free Church at the disruption of 1843 some younger members may not have been recorded.

Adam and his siblings :

 

1830                      Birth of Dau., Margaret                      New Friars Parish                  

1833                      Birth of Son, Alexander                     South Leith Parish                

1835                      Birth of Son, George Grey                 73 Rose Street, Edin.                         

1837                      Birth of Dau., Agnes                          73 Rose Street, Edin.                         

1838                      Birth of Son, William Hume               Edinburgh                               

1840                      Birth of Son, John                               Edinburgh                               

1842                      Birth of Son, Adam                            11 South Canal Street, Edin.             

c1845                    Birth of Son, Robert                           Edinburgh                               

c1847                    Birth of Son, George                          Edinburgh                               

c1849                    Birth of Son, James                             Edinburgh                               

c1851                    Birth of Son, Henry C.                       Edinburgh

There were two daughters as far as can be ascertained.  Margaret, described as a Hat Trimmer in the 1851 census, married George Street and had a large family, and Agnes whose gravestone is beside her father’s in Grange Cemetery .  This stone indicates that Agnes married an Alexander Thomson, he dying in 1891 and Agnes, herself, at 52 years of age in 1889. Alexander, the eldest son, was described as a Plumber’s Apprentice in the 1851 census.

John Melville, plumber and brass-founder, was in partnership with someone by the name of Robert Hume and gave son William the name Hume as his middle name after this partner.  The Post Office street directory for 1856/57 gives John Melville as the householder at 12 Calton Hill and his business as that of Hume and Melville, plumbers, brass-founders and gas-fitters.  He was also indicated as living there in 1859/60 though he, in fact, died in 1859.  An earlier interesting address for John and family is that in the 1851 census.  They were then at 5 High Terrace, Edinburgh .  This was a high level terrace above the north side of Leith Street and probably another name for Leith Street Terrace. The properties were demolished in 1965 to make way for the construction of the St James Shopping Centre.

It is worth noting that John was no mean businessman as he would appear to be employing 90 men and boys probably along with Robert Hume who described himself as and employer of 80-90 men and boys.  Robert Hume, in 1851, was living at 21 West Register Street and was 38 years of age. His wife Anna, aged 28 years, and two sons also resided there.  The street directories show the address of the Hume and Melville business to be 23 West Register Street .  By 1857/58 partner Robert had gone up in the world as by then he was residing in a rather better area of the city at Annahill Villa, Grange Road .

Agnes Lawson, John’s wife, was the daughter of a soldier who was given as being in the 1st Dragoon Guards at the time of their marriage on 2nd October 1829 and as a Sergeant in the Scots Greys on her death certificate of 28th August 1865.  Since Alexander Melville was designated Sergeant Alexander in one early source then there is the possibly of some army connection leading to the marriage of Alexander’s son, John, and William Lawson’s daughter, Agnes. 

A letter from Aadam Graham Melville’s grand-son Charles Bernays Melville, Melbourne , Australia to Una Melville in New Zealand , in 1970, gives information regarding John Melville and son John ‘junior’.  He mentions a son Charles of John ‘junior’ who went to New Zealand .  Charles Bernays also states that two sons of John Melville ‘senior’ went to the USA but this I have not confirmed.  Since he is taking about close relatives and though some of the dates in his letter are incorrect it is clearly possible that his information could be accurate.

John was buried in the Grange Cemetery and a search of the burial ground revealed an impressive monument flanked on either side by the graves of his daughters Margaret and Agnes.  All three stones provided much information about the families and their inscriptions are recorded below.  This information is followed by further details obtained from the records of burials at the cemetery. Those records are now held at the Mortonhall Crematorium.

John Melville’s Gravestone in Grange Cemetery indicates the following; -

Sacred to the memory of John Melville, Plumber, Edinburgh died 2nd Feby. 1859, aged 52 years.

Also

Agnes Lawson, his wife, died 28th Aug. 1865, aged 54 years.

Also

Robert H. Melville, their seventh son, died 1st July 1870 aged 26 years.

Also 5 of his children who died in infancy.(i.e. John Melville’s children)

Also on the John Melville stone;-

In memory of James A. Melville, Moray House College , died 29th May 1895, aged 46 years.

(The date 1895 not very clear but certainly 189? And almost certain it was a 5 at the end.)

Also

Agnes Burnside, his wife, died 16th May 1907, aged 60 years.

Also James M. Barbour, his grandson, son of George J. Scott, died 17th April 1906, aged 17 months.

(not sure how this fits in – if  Barbour was his surname then how is his father George Scott?  Was Barbour a ‘second’ forename and the surname taken as being Scott?) 

The Agnes Melville stone;-

Sacred to the memory of Agnes Melville, beloved wife of Alexander Thomson, died ? Feby. 1889, aged 52 years.

Also The above Alexander Thomson, died 9th Sept. 1891, aged 62 years. (The year not very clear but appears to be 1891).

The burial plots in Grange Cemetery on first examination appeared to be three in number.  However, the information from Mortonhall indicates three grave stones covering four lairs and burials not recorded on the stones.  The easiest way to present the information from the Mortonhall records is to transcribe it from the handwritten notes and those are copied here.  I have noted all the details given by Mortonhall except the burial depth.

Plot I547

Agnes Melville, 47 George IV Bridge, Died 3-2-1869, Aged 32 yrs.

Agnes Melville Aitken, 12 West Newington Place, Died 19-5-1881, Aged 1 yr 1 month

Maria Fraser Aitken, Daughter of George Aitken, 35 George IV Bridge, Died 15-1-1890,

Aged 7 yrs 6 months.

            Alexander Thomson, Morningside Asylum, Died 9-9-1891, Aged 62 yrs.

Plot I548

John Melville, Plumber, 12 Calton Hill, Died 2-2-1859, Aged 52 yrs.

Robert Hume Melville, 47 Great King Street , Died 1-7-1870 of Consumption, Aged 26 yrs.

Isabella Wood Melville, 49 (?47) Great King Street , Died 13-3-1872 of Fever, Aged

5 yrs 6 mths.

 

Roberta Margaret Melville, 47 Great King Street , Died 22-1-1872 of Bronchitis

Aged 1 yr.

 

Plot I549

Margaret Melville, Wife of George Street, 7 St Patrick’s Square, Died 6-11-1871,

Aged 40 yrs.

 

Agnes Lawson, Wife of John Melville, 128 Causewayside, Died 28-8-1865 of

Consumption, Aged 54 yrs.

Plot I550

Alfred Alexander Street , Son of George Street , 47 North Hanover Street , Died

29-9-1861 of Infantile Cholera, Aged 9 months.

Maggie Street , Daughter of George Street , 17 George IV Bridge, Died 25-4-1865

of Measles, Aged 3 months.

John Street, 41 Lothian Street, Died 21-1-1868 of Fever, aged 15 yrs.

George Street , 41 Lothian Street , Died 19-1-1868 of Fever, Aged 9 yrs.

James George Street , Died Sunnyside Cottage, Lasswade, Died 10-6-1870, Aged

2 years 3 months.

George Street, 3 Windmill Street, Died 28-5-1871, No age listed.

Flora Matilda Street , Daughter of George Street , 34 Clerk Street , Died 25-5-1882

Aged 2 yrs.

The impressive group of memorials to John Melville and his family in Grange Cemetery , Edinburgh .

     

        

John Melville   1806 - 1859

Shipping lists to Australia indicate that Adam and his wife, Isabella, sailed to Australia in 1860 but on different ships.  The reason for this is unclear.  Maybe he was to go out slightly earlier to sort out a home or there may not have been space on the first vessel for Isabella.  It is, of course, possible that Adam was intent on leaving Scotland on his own and Isabella would have none of it and followed!

Adam MELVILLE age 20 arriving VIC Sep 1860 on the " Wellesley "

The WELLESLEY was a three-masted, square-rigged ship, built at London (Blackwall) by (Richard & Henry) Green, in 1844. 162 x 36.5 x 23.1 feet (length x beam x depth of hold).

Isabella MELVILLE age 20 arriving VIC Oct 1860 on " Merlin" .

The “Merlin” was wooden steamship built in Glasgow in 1850 and sunk in 1882.  It was 143 feet in length, 25.6 feet in breadth and had a draft of 14.8 feet.

At this time it is still not certain if Alexander Melville and Margaret Graham reached Edinburgh or if it was only their son John who went to reside there.  However, there is a strong possibility that those Melvilles of Clyne, including Isabella Melville, went to Edinburgh , and resided together before some of them then emigrated to the Southern Hemisphere. Much research, including the examination of census records, has taken place in the search for the other children of Alexander Melville and Margaret Graham in hope that their location would determine where the couple finally settled.  The search will go one but looking for such a common surname in central Scotland , and particularly seeking three females who may have married, presents considerable difficulty.

On the discovery of Adam Graham Melville’s second marriage, in Australia , on 8th January 1872 to Mary Melville a number of puzzles appeared.  At first dates were not clear and there was some question as to what the gentleman had been up to.  His relative haste in marrying the sister of his first wife, the fact that he went to South Australia to reside for a short time and marry her and that he described himself there as a bachelor all led to various suspicions. 

Adam Graham Melville’s second wife, Mary Melville.  Though this picture of Isabella has been found unfortunately to date neither a photograph of Adam nor his other two wives, Isabella and Elizabeth, have not come to light.

The reasons for much of the above became clear when it was discovered that a son, David Graham Melville, was born on 22nd December 1871 to Adam and Mary Melville in Adelaide and the fact that in Australia it was prior to 1871 not possible to marry one’s sister-in-law. The relationship Adam was having at that time with Mary could be legitimised promptly and conveniently by a marriage in South Australia where the law changed in 1871 with the introduction of the South Australian Deceased Wife’s Sister Marriage Act to allow such a marriage.  Also their son born in December of 1871 could effectively be legitimised.

Though Adam could legitimately have admitted to a previous marriage it might have been convenient for him not to have to acknowledge his first wife and, indeed, having a son before the marriage and around the time of the introduction of the marriage act might also have proved to be embarrassing if not illegal.  Additionally, it could possibly have been surmised that the description of Adam as a bachelor might have been a mistake if it were not for the details recorded at the time of his third marriage to Elizabeth McKenney (Trennery) on 28th October 1901 in Melbourne . This marriage certificate indicates this as the second time that he entered the state of matrimony and not as the third as it clearly was.

Below is a list of Adam’s family to Isabella and Mary.  He had no family to Elizabeth McKenney.

Isabella Melville = Adam Graham Melville

John 1863 -1863

 

Mary Melville = Adam Graham Melvile

                                                                        David Graham            1871 -1918

Connected to Leslies, Torbeg Melvilles   --     Isabel Agnes               1873 – 1917

and Munros from Backies.

                                                                        Bertha                        1874 -1945

                                                                        William Alexander       1876 – 1946

Grandson married a Leslie, his cousin   ---     Charles Edward          1877 – 1937

Daughter M. the brother of actor Basil Rathbone

                                                                        Adam Gib                   1880 - 1940

In Australia Adam Graham Melville did very well for himself and was highly thought of.  He was clearly a person of some knowledge and repute in the literary world and was engaged, on at least one occasion, in presenting his knowledge to the Library Association of Australia.  At the Sydney meeting of October 1898 he presented a paper entitled ‘The Book-Trade in Australia Since 1861’.  This paper includes a section where Adam mentions an incident in Edinburgh when he was ‘a very little boy’.  He tells how he saw a crowd surging round a hackney coach with a policeman sitting beside the driver.  This coach he states carried Madeleine Smith who was alleged to have murdered her lover.  She was being taken from the High Court to Calton Hill Gaol.  This gaol was not far from where he resided.  Adam mentions Madeleine Smith’s fair face, large blue eyes and intense gaze and how twenty five years later Madeleine Smith and a gentleman unknown to him entered the library connected with his business in Melbourne . He described how he immediately recognised the much changed woman by the eyes he had seen years before.  This ‘very small boy’ would, in fact, have been 14 or 15 years of age at the time of Smith’s trial in 1857 and though there is no mention of Australia in a short biography in a biographical dictionary she did marry an artist-publisher by the name George Wardle. 

Madeleine Smith was not the only ‘celebrity’ mentioned and Adam also stated that the author and traveller Rudyard Kipling and Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon also used the library.  It is impossible to tell whether or not those tales are true but nevertheless he was felt important enough to be given a prestiges platform to present along and well developed paper on the book selling business in Australia from the 1860s to 1898.

Below is a picture of the Calton Gaol close by where Adam Graham Melville lived and worked.  It was from this Gaol to the High Court that Madeleine was being taken when Adam says he saw her.

Further evidence of Adam Graham Melville’s achievements is noted in a biographical entry in a book entitled ‘The Early Australian Booksellers’ and in his obituary notice in the Melbourne daily newspaper ‘The Argus’.  The former entry, given in full below, states, ‘ With his knowledge of books and of English society, with his urbanity and tact, he created an atmosphere that made Mullen’s Library a literary club and meeting place for the intelligentsia and the elite of Melbourne, rivalling in local society the prestige of Mudie’s Library of London’.  The obituary, which is also reproduced later, contains details of his career and in one important passage regarding his work states, ‘He was always ready to place the benefits of his wide reading at the services of patrons and his personality impressed itself upon all with whom he came into contact.’

To give some indication of Adam’s position in the literary circles of Australia and try to put his life into some context various references to him need to be included here.

The biographical entry on Samuel Mullen, bookseller and owner of Mullen's bookshop and library, in the Australian dictionary of biography, v.5, 1851-1890 (Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1969), briefly mentioned above, provides a short history of the origins of the booksellers, Melville and Mullen. From the A.D.B. entry the following summary has been made.

In 1859, Samuel Mullen and his brother, William Lowell opened a bookshop and library at 55 Collins Street East , Melbourne . Based on Mudie's of London , his library was the first of its kind in Australia . Several of Mullen's assistants achieved distinction: Adam Graham Melville (1842-1921) took charge of the library in the 1860s; Leonard Slade (1859-1954) served in 1876-1939 and became a partner. Mullens moved in 1879 to larger premises at 31 Collins Street East .

In October 1889 Samuel Mullen sold out to his brother William, A. G. Melville and

L.  Slade. Samuel Mullen died in London on 29 May, 1890. In 1921 Melville and

Mullen merged with George Robertson & Co. to form Robertson & Mullens.

A biographical entry in the book ‘The Early Australian Booksellers’, published by the Australian Booksellers Association, 1980, throws more light on this remarkable man.

Adam Graham Melville (1842-1921)

Born in Scotland in 1842, Adam Graham Melville, served his apprenticeship with the firm of Gall & Inglis, Edinburgh, and came to Melbourne in 1865 when he took charge of Mullen's Library.

With his knowledge of books and of English society, with his urbanity and tact, he created an atmosphere that made Mullen's Library a literary club and a meeting place for the intelligentsia and the elite of Melbourne, rivaling in local society the prestige of Mudie's Library of London.

He became a partner in the firm of Melville, Mullen & Slade in 1889. Ten years later Melville and Mullen purchased the interests of other shareholders and the name was changed to Melville & Mullen.

Melville outlived his partner, retired in 1911, and died on May 24, 1921, aged 79 years.

Also his obituary notice appearing in the daily newspaper, the Argus (Melbourne) on 26 May, 1921, page 6 is also valuable as a piece of family history.  The entry reads as follows:

Death of Mr. A. G. Melville

The thousands of people who have patronised the library of Messrs. Melville and Mullen will learn with regret of the death of Mr. A. G. Melville, which occurred at his residence, 15 Dickens Street , St. Kilda on Tuesday evening. He was associated with the Library for many years and those who went there often came to rely upon his sound knowledge of books. He was always ready to place the benefits of his wide reading at the services of patrons and his personality impressed itself upon all who came in contact with him. He was 79 years of age.

Mr. Melville began his business career with the firm of Gall and Inglis, in Edinburgh , and came to Melbourne in 1865 when appointed chief Librarian at Mullen's Library. Later he became a senior partner in the firm of Melville and Mullen and remained with the firm until ten years ago, when he retired from business. He leaves a widow, three sons and one daughter. One son served in the A.I.F.

Above is a pictorial representation of Mullens Bookshop and Library on ‘The Block’, Collins Street , Melbourne in the 1870s.  The shop was opened in 1859 by Samuel Mullens and was the first of its kind in Australia . This is where Adam Graham Melville took charge in the early 1860s and it flourished under his management.   He became a partner in the business along with W.L. Mullen, Samuels brother, and Leonard Slade and remained in this business until his retirement in 1911.  The business was so successful that new premises were founded in 1880.

 

This sketch of Mullen and Melvilles’s Library appeared in 1889 in ‘The Illustrated London News’.  It is clear from the sketch that the Library and Bookshop were patronised by high society of the time.  Also its fame had spread well beyond the borders of Australia .

 

 

 

The Block on the corner of Collins Street and Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, as it appeared towards the end of Adam Graham Melville’s time in business in the area.

Information on Adam Graham Melville’s family can be found in the Family History Data printout in the appendix.  However, two sons are worth a short special mention. Charles Edward Melville and Adam Gib Melville worked in senior positions in the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited. They oversaw the working of offices all over Australia and in what was then the Dominion of New Zealand.  In 1917 Charles was Company Manager and Adam Gib was Sub Manager but later, in 1924, Adam was to become Managing Director of the Australian Group & General Assurance Company as the business was then called.

                         

                                                                                                                                                                            

 

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