Robert Melvill

[1] Melvill invented (1759) the Carronade, a cast-iron cannon popular for 100 years, in co-operation with the Carron Iron Works (from which it takes its name).

[3] He left his studies a second time and joined the 25th Foot (originally raised by David Melville, 3rd Earl of Leven in 1689, and later known as the King's Own Scottish Borderers) as an ensign in 1744 in Flanders, and fought that year at the Battle of Fontenoy, where 1/3 of the regiment was killed.

He assisted with the capture of several French islands, including Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Dominica, and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel.

Under the 1763 Treaty of Paris, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint Lucia were returned to France, but Grenada, the Grenadines, Dominica, St Vincent and Tobago were ceded to Britain.

According to David Alston, the policies pursued by Melvill's administration exacerbated sectarian tensions between recently arrived Scots Presbyterian planters and the longer-established French Catholic settlers, turning Grenada into a divided and feud-ridden colony.