Melvill, Thomas 1
- Born: Nov 1757 1
- Marriage: Leith, Janet in 1800 1
- Died: 15 Mar 1814 aged 56 1 2
 Events:
• Historical. 1 Copy of the Inscription on Silver Cup presented to Thomas MELVILL:-
The Gift of HIs Excellency, Arthur Phillips, Esq.,
Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief
of His Majesty's Territory of
New South Wales and its Dependencies,
to Thomas Melvill
Commander of the Brittania,
for Killing a Spermaceti Whale on
the 26th October 1791.
Being the first of its kind taken on that coast, since the Colony was established
This cup is (was?) in the possession of Mrs Edward H.V.Melvill of Johannesburg
• Historical, 1790. 2 He was a Scot, a master mariner, and in the course of his travels he passed the Cape of Good Hope several times bound for the South American whaling grounds. He rounded the Cape in 1790 and 55 days later he reached Port Jackson, Australia.
In 1799 he was permitted to proceed and settle in the Cape, and he left England in February 1800 with his wife Janet (nee Leith) and their children Janet and John, and they arrive in Simon's Bay in May (1800) He then bought a schooner and they embarked for Saldanha Bay where he had bought a major share in the farm Geytenbergsfontein, but soon sold it.
• Occupation, 1807. 2 After the second British Occupation he opened the ships-chandler store "Melvill and Johnson" in Strand street Cape Town, and in 1808 they bought the premises and conducted business until 1813. The partnership dissolved and a year later he died aged 56.
Thomas married Janet Leith in 1800.1 (Janet Leith was born in 1765 1 and died in 1814 1.)
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