Sir William Henry Melvill (26 September 1827 – 18 March 1911) was a British barrister and civil servant who was Solicitor to the Treasury from 1866–94.
[1] Melvill was born in Islington, London, the third son and one of nine children of Sir James Cosmo Melvill, Permanent Under-Secretary for India, and Hester Jane Frances Sellon.
His father was the eldest surviving son of Scottish philanthropist Philip Melvill (1762–1811), Lieut.-Governor of Pendennis Castle.
The Melvill family became prominent through the East India Company.
The following year, then-Chancellor of the Exchequer William Ewart Gladstone appointed him Solicitor to the Board of Inland Revenue, a post which he held until his retirement in 1894.