Thomas Melville of that Ilk

Biography

The Melvilles, Earls of Melville, and the Leslies, Earls of Leven. Memoirs. (Correspondence. - Charters.) [With plates, including portraits and facsimiles, and genealogical tables.] by Fraser, William, Sir, 1816-1898. Page 21. Archive.Org

Thomas Melville, Lord of Melville, 1442-1458. Son of John Melville, Lord of Melville, 1429-c. 1442

He appears to have succeeded his father about the year 1442, as, according to a list of crown sasines under that date, he was then infeft in the lands of Grieston, Peeblesshire. 4 Ten years later he witnessed a charter by Robert Boyd of Kilmarnock to Sir David Hay of Yester, and is described as Thomas Melville, lord of that ilk. 5 Two years after, under the decree of a justiciary court, held in January 1454, his goods were escheated to the extent of £10. 6 The reason of this is not stated, and it does not appear that he was embroiled in any political offence. He may, however, have been in debt, as there is evidence that his lands of Mosshouses and Grieston were mortgaged for a time. During his possession of the barony of Melville and the other landed estates, he was styled in a deed granted by himself, " a noble and potent Thomas Malwin, lord of the same." This designation occurs in the obliga- tion dated in 1457, the year before his death. 1
Thomas Melville died in 1458, the last direct male heir of his family, and was succeeded by his daughter and heiress, Agnes Melville, who was then a minor. He left a widow, whose name is unknown, who survived at least until the year 1471, but how much later has not been ascertained.

References

• The Melvilles, Earls of Melville, and the Leslies, Earls of Leven. Memoirs. (Correspondence. - Charters.) [With plates, including portraits and facsimiles, and genealogical tables.] by Fraser, William, Sir, 1816-1898.Link