Philip Dundas (baptised 7 May 1762 – 8 April 1807) was a Scottish
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
naval officer, president of the East India Marine Board, and superintendent of Bombay. He returned to Britain and became a member of parliament and returned to the Far East to become governor of
Prince of Wales Island, now known as Penang.
Early life
Philip Dundas was the fourth son of
Robert Dundas of Arniston, the younger
Robert Dundas of Arniston, the younger, FRSE (18 July 1713 – 13 December 1787) was a Scottish judge. He served as Solicitor General for Scotland from 1742 to 1746, as Lord Advocate from 1754 to 1760, and as Member of Parliament for Midlothian ...
, and his second wife, Jean, daughter of
William Grant, Lord Prestongrange
William Grant, Lord Prestongrange (1701 – 23 May 1764), was a Scottish politician and judge.
Grant was procurator for the Church of Scotland and Clerk to the General Assembly in 1731. He campaigned against patronage in the Church. He was appo ...
.
East India Company
Dundas joined the East India Company Navy and rose to become captain of from 1786 until 1792. Through the influence of his politically well connected uncle,
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, PC, FRSE (28 April 1742 – 28 May 1811), styled as Lord Melville from 1802, was the trusted lieutenant of British Prime Minister William Pitt and the most powerful politician in Scotland in the late 18 ...
, he was promoted from captain to president of the Marine Board and superintendent of Bombay from 1792 until 1801 (see
Admiral-superintendent The admiral-superintendent was the Royal Navy officer in command of a larger Naval Dockyard. Portsmouth, Devonport and Chatham all had admiral-superintendents, as did some other dockyards in the United Kingdom and abroad at certain times. The admir ...
), during which time "he had £10,000 a year and accumulated £70,000 or £80,000, with which he returned to England".
Member of Parliament
On returning to Britain Dundas stood as a member of Parliament for English constituency of
Gatton and having won the seat after
a contested by-election (during which he was elected with a single vote cast) entered Parliament on 24 January 1803. He would remain in parliament for a little over two years, and although he remained a silent member, like other members of his family he voted in favour of measures that brought
Addington administration to an end. In April 1805 he vacated his seat, leaving it at
Pitt's disposal.
Prince of Wales Island
Very shortly after leaving Parliament, Dundas embarked on a voyage to the East Indies to take up the governorship of Prince of Wales Island. His uncle the Viscount Melville had long hoped to establish a naval arsenal.
The newly appointed Lieutenant-
Governor of Penang
The governor of Penang ( ms, Yang di-Pertua Negeri Pulau Pinang) is the head of state of the Malaysian state of Penang. The role of governor is largely ceremonial with the power vested in the executive branch of the state government led by the ...
, arrived at the newly created Presidency of the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
, between 18 and 24 September 1805, together with his Council and the subordinate officials, including his Deputy Secretary,
Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is ...
, who would form his new government.
The status of
Penang
Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...
(comprising
Prince of Wales' Island and
Province Wellesley
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
) at this time, was such that it was on an equal footing with the three great Presidencies in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
—
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
,
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, and
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
. Dundas was Governor of Prince of Wales Isle (Penang) from 1805 to 1807.
![Philip-dundas-grave](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Philip-dundas-grave.jpg)
He created a red-light district so that he could control disease without having to discourage business. On board
HMS ''Belliqueux'', in the Bay of Bengal, he died on 8 April 1807 just two years after he arrived, ill health from unsanitary conditions taking him, and was buried in Penang a few days later.
Family
Dundas was married twice. In 1790 he married Penelope Ford Lindsay of Dublin.
[ cites Gent. Mag. (1790), ii. 763.] She died in 1802. They had no children.
On 5 May 1803 he married Margaret (died 1806),
daughter of
John Wedderburn of Ballendean
Sir John Wedderburn of Ballindean, 6th Baronet of Blackness (1729–1803) was a Scottish landowner who made a fortune in slave sugar in the West Indies. Born into a family of impoverished Perthshire gentry, his father, Sir John Wedderburn, 5t ...
(1729–1803) (and sister of
Sir David Wedderburn, 1st Baronet
Sir David Wedderburn, 1st Baronet (10 March 1775 – 7 April 1858) was a Scottish businessman and Tory politician. He was Postmaster General for Scotland 1823-31 and a member of two London militias before that.
Family background
Wedderburn was ...
(1775–1858)). They had two sons:
*
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...
, who assumed the surnames of Christopher and then Nisbet-Hamilton. He became a Conservative Member of Parliament.
*Philip Dundas (1806–1870), colonel in the army. On 30 October 1858 he married Lady Jane Charteris (died 1897), daughter of
Francis, 7th Earl of Wemyss and March. They are buried together in the Old Kirkyard,
Lasswade
Lasswade is a village and civil parish in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River North Esk, nine miles (14.5 kilometres) south of Edinburgh city centre, contiguous with Bonnyrigg and between Dalkeith to the east and Loanhead to the west. Melville C ...
. They had no children.
Other
At least three ships were named for Dundas. See:
''Philip Dundas''
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dundas, Philip
1762 births
1807 deaths
People from Midlothian
History of Penang
British East India Company Army officers
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
UK MPs 1802–1806
Administrators in British Penang