Although he was noted for publishing theological works, he was also active in promoting new fiction, and offered a substantial cash prize for the best first novel submitted to his firm.
The League's stated purpose was" to promote and strengthen a worthy Imperial Spirit in British-born boys".
In 1911, Melrose was living at 68 Southwood Lane, Highgate, with his wife Margaret and their children Ernest (20), Douglas (17), Allan (14), Kenneth (11) and Marjorie (9).
In 1915 he published Caradoc Evans's story collection My People, a work that provoked outrage for its depiction of Welsh society.
The book on which Melrose chiefly prided himself was The House with the Green Shutters by George Douglas Brown.
[1] Under the pseudonym of A. E. Macdonald, Melrose wrote popular biographies of missionary Alexander Murdoch Mackay,[9] British statesman William Ewart Gladstone[10] and explorer Henry Morton Stanley.