John Thornton Leslie-Melville, 9th Earl of Leven, 8th Earl of Melville DL JP (18 December 1786 – 16 September 1876) was a Scottish peer and soldier.

Early life

John Thornton was born on 18 December 1786. He was the son of Alexander Leslie-Melville, 7th Earl of Leven and the former Jane Thornton (1757–1818). His siblings included the Hon. William Leslie-Melville, the Hon. and Rev. Robert Leslie-Melville, the Hon. Alexander Leslie-Melville of Branston Hall, Lady Lucy Leslie-Melville (wife of Henry Smith), Lady Jane Leslie-Melville (wife of Francis Pym), and Lady Marianne Leslie-Melville (wife of Abel Smith). His paternal grandfather was

David Melville, 6th Earl of Leven David Leslie, 6th Earl of Leven (4 May 1722 – 9 June 1802) was the son of Alexander Leslie, 5th Earl of Leven. Grand Master of Scottish Freemasons 1759–61; Deputy Governor of the Bank of Scotland; a Lord of Police 1772–82; High Commissi ...

(who also sat in the House of Lords as a Scottish representative peer), and his maternal grandfather was merchant and philanthropist John Thornton.

Career

As his brother,

David Leslie-Melville, 8th Earl of Leven David Leslie-Melville, 8th Earl of Leven, 7th Earl of Melville (1785–1860) was a Scottish peer and admiral. He entered the Royal Navy c. 1800; he became Rear Admiral in 1846, and Vice Admiral in 1858. He was a Representative Peer (Tory), for S ...

, died without surviving male issue, he succeeded as the 11th Earl of Leven in 1860. The Earldom of Melville has been held by the Earls of Leven since 20 May 1707. He was Deputy Paymaster to the Forces in the Peninsula in 1809; he was a founding partner in the banking partnership Williams, Deacon, Labouchere, Thornton & Co; he was a Representative Peer for Scotland (Conservative) from 1865 to 1876.

Personal life

On 15 September 1812, he married his cousin, Harriet Thornton, daughter of Samuel Thornton, MP and Elizabeth (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Milnes) Thornton (a daughter of Robert Milnes). Together, they were the parents of: * Lady Emily Maria Leslie-Melville (1815–1896), who married

Robert Williams Robert, Rob, Robbie, Bob or Bobby Williams may refer to: Architecture * Train %26 Williams#Robert Edmund Williams, Robert Edmund Williams (1874–1960), Canadian-American architect * Robert Williams (architect) (1848–1918), Welsh architect a ...

, MP for Dorchester. *

Alexander Leslie-Melville, 10th Earl of Leven Alexander Leslie-Melville, 10th Earl of Leven, 9th Earl of Melville (1817–1889) He was the son of John Leslie-Melville, 9th Earl of Leven. He was a partner in Williams. Deacon & Co, and was a Representative Peer for Scotland (Conservative) from ...

(1817–1889) * Hon. Alfred John Leslie-Melville (1826–1851), who died at age 24 at

Penang, Malaysia Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. These ...

. * Lady Julia Louisa Leslie-Melville (1829–1870), who married, as his second wife, Lt Gen Robert Richardson-Robertson, younger brother of Sir John Stewart-Richardson, 13th Baronet. * Lady Adelaide Harriet Leslie-Melville (1831–1898) After the death of his first wife, he married another cousin, Sophia Thornton (1806–1887) on 23 April 1834. Sophia, who was also a cousin of his first wife Harriet, was the fourth daughter of reformer Henry Thornton (brother of Samuel Thornton, above). Together, they were the parents of the following children: * Ronald Leslie-Melville, 11th Earl of Leven (1835–1906), who married Hon. Emma Selina Portman, eldest daughter of Henry Portman, 2nd Viscount Portman, in 1885. * Hon. Norman Leslie-Melville (1839–1923), who married Georgina Ball, a daughter of Capt William Shirley Ball of Abbeylara, in 1861. * Lady Ann Sophia Leslie-Melville (1843–1898) * Lady Florence Lucy Leslie-Melville (1848–1930) * Lady Kathleen Mabel Leslie-Melville (d. 1958), who married Charles Henry Farrer, a grandson of Thomas Fremantle, 1st Baron Cottesloe, in 1894. Lord Leven died on 16 September 1876 and was succeeded in the earldoms by his eldest surviving son,

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

. He is buried with his second wife Sophia on the south side of the southern roundel in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is since 1852 the first (and only) London cemetery to be Crown Estate, Crown property, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington a ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leven, John Leslie-Melville, 9th Earl Of 1786 births 1876 deaths Nobility from Fife Earls of Leven Scottish representative peers Scottish bankers Morden College 19th-century Scottish businesspeople Scottish company founders