Early Life
The son of Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville, he was born on 11 April 1802 and educated at Harrow School and joined the Royal Navy in 1817.
He became a captain in the Royal Navy in 1824. He commanded HMS Volage on the South American Station, 1825, and HMS Warspite in Australia, 1827. From 1828-1830 he was secretary to his father, who was serving a second term as First Sea Lord. He later served in the Mediterranean, South Africa and the East Indies, including the First Opium War, for his services in which he was awarded a Companion of the Bath in 1841: ships he commanded at this time were HMS Belvidera and HMS Melville. He was then again (1845-6) Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty, this time Lord Haddington, and from 1848 served in the Mediterranean as Captain of HMS Powerful. He became a Rear Admiral in July 1853.
Read more about this topic: Richard Saunders Dundas
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