William Melville arrived in India in 1814 as a free merchant. From 1824 until 1832 he worked for the firm of Fergusson and Company, Calcutta, first as an assistant and then as a partner. He then appears to have travelled up the country and perhaps lived by painting. In about 1835 he painted several portraits at Sardhana, Uttar Pradesh, including one of Begum Samru, which was later purchased for Government House, Allahabad. During the 1830s Melville also seems to have painted a portrait of Colonel James Skinner, which still hangs in St James’s Church in Delhi. His name appears on a picture inscribed ‘Simla 1843’ and also on a portrait dated 1847 of three Indians standing in front of a European-style bungalow, possibly in Simla.
