| Administrative History | Melvin was born in 1795 in Aberdeen and educated there at the Grammar School and at Marischal College, where he graduated A.M. in 1816. He was a teacher and later also lecturer in humanity (Latin) at his old college. He was a careful and successful teacher and an eminent Latin scholar, and ‘Latin Exercises as dictated by the late James Melvin, LL.D.’ was published in 1857 (four years after his death in 1853) by the rector of Grantown Grammar School: it was subsequently revised and re-edited by other teachers. He produced a Latin grammar in 1822, of which there were several editions. His library of over 6,000 books (mostly a fine collection of classical and mediaeval Latin literature) was left to Marischal College, Aberdeen. |