Index,’ Edinburgh, 1795; ‘Classical Biography,’ Edinburgh, 1800.
[Life by A. Henderson, Edinburgh, 1810; Notice in Encyclopædia Britannica, by Professor Pillans, his successor in the High School.]
ADAM, Sir CHARLES (1780–1853), admiral, was the son of the Right Hon. William Adam, of Blair-Adam, Kinross, and of Eleanor, daughter of the tenth Lord Elphinstone, and sister of Captain Elphinstone, afterwards Admiral Lord Keith. He was born on 6 Oct. 1780, and entered the navy at a very early age, under the direct patronage of his uncle, with whom he continued to serve till, in 1795, he was sent to the Victorious, of 74 guns, as acting-lieutenant. In June 1799 he was made captain, and appointed to the Sybille frigate, in which ship, on 19 Aug. 1801, under circumstances of great difficulty and intricate navigation, he captured the French frigate, Chiffonne, which had taken up a position in Mahé Roads, in the Seychelle Islands. He was afterwards, in May 1803, appointed to command the Chiffonne, and in her took part in the blockade of Boulogne and the north coast of France through the summer of 1805. In 1811–13 he commanded the Invincible, of 74 guns, in active operations on the coast of Spain, and after the peace was for many years captain of the royal yacht, till in May 1825 he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral. He became vice-admiral in 1837, and admiral in 1848. In January 1835 he was made K.C.B., and sat as M.P. for Clackmannan and Kinross from 1833 to 1841. Between August 1841 and May 1845 he was commander-in-chief in the West Indies; he was one of the lords of the admiralty from April 1835 to August 1841, and again in 1846–47, when he was appointed governor of Greenwich Hospital, where he died on 16 Sept. 1853. A subscription bust, said to be a good likeness, is in the Painted Hall.
[O'Byrne's Naval Biographical Dictionary; Gent. Mag. 1853, ii. 528.]
ADAM, Sir FREDERICK (1781–1853), general, was fourth son of the Right Hon. William Adam, of Blair Adam, M.P., lord lieutenant of Kinross, and a most eminent orator and Scotch judge; was brother of Admiral Sir Charles Adam, K.C.B., M.P., and uncle of the Right Hon. W. P. Adam M.P. He was appointed an ensign in 1795, and lieutenant in 1796 while a mere boy, and while holding his commission was educated in the military academy at Woolwich. He became captain in the 9th regiment in 1799, and in the same year exchanged into the 2nd or Coldstream guards. He accompanied his regiment to Egypt, was promoted major in 1803, lieutenant-colonel in 1804, and in 1805, when only twenty-four, purchased the command of the 21st regiment. His regiment was ordered to Sicily, and he remained in the army of Sicily till 1813. He was present at the battle of Maida, and the siege of Scylla in 1806, and on 10 Sept. of the same year fought a smart engagement with General Cavaignac, at Mili, in temporary command of a brigade. In 1811 he was made aide-de-camp to the prince regent, and deputy-adjutant-general to the forces in Sicily, in 1812 promoted to be colonel, and in 1813 given the command of a brigade in the army which was sent from Sicily in April to operate in the east of Spain.
He was now destined on more than one occasion to pay the penalty for the military incapacity of his commanding generals, and it may be asserted truthfully that he was the only English general, except Donkin the quartermaster-general, who won fame, or even reputation, during the badly conducted operations on the east coast, which filled Wellington with despair. His first commander-in-chief, Sir John Murray, began by placing his brigade so far in advance of the main army that it could not possibly be supported. Suchet, who was an extremely able general, saw the fault, and attacked Adam's brigade of 1,800 men at Biar, on 12 April, with two divisions. Adam maintained the unequal battle for two hours, though badly wounded, and at last, when he had given Murray an opportunity to come to his assistance or take up a good defensive position, after a five hours' defence he fell back on Castalla. Murray had not taken up a good position, and, while his right was quite impregnable, had left his left exposed. Here Adam, and Whittingham with his Spaniards, were posted, and on 13 April the valour of the soldiers and the good conduct of their officers made up for the faulty dispositions of the general, and all Suchet's attacks were repulsed with a loss of 3,000 men. Some months later, when the divisions from Sicily had been again brought round to Catalonia, Lord William Bentinck treated Adam's brigade much as Sir John Murray had done. It formed the advanced brigade of the army which had taken Tarragona, and was stationed at the bridge of Ordall far from any support. Suchet determined to recapture Tarragona, and on 12 Sept. attacked Ordall with an overwhelming force, and again Adam was left unsupported. This time Suchet was successful, and took Ordall after a desperate resistance, in which the brigadier-general was
