William Patrick Adam, CIE, DL (14 September 1823 – 24 May 1881) was a British colonial administrator and Liberal politician. He was twice

First Commissioner of Works The First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings was a position within the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and subsequent to 1922, within the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ir ...

under

William Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

and also served briefly as

Governor of Madras This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947. English Agents In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized be ...

between 1880 and 1881.

Background and education

Adam was the son of Admiral Sir Charles Adam, son of William Adam, only surviving son of the architect John Adam, brother of architects

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

and James Adam. His mother was Elizabeth Brydone, daughter of

Patrick Brydone Patrick Brydone, FRSE, FRS, FSAScot, FSA (5 January 1736 – 19 June 1818) was a Scottish traveller and author who served as Comptroller of the Stamp Office. Life Brydone was born in Coldingham, Berwickshire, on 5 January 1736, the son of ...

, while John Adam and Sir Frederick Adam were his uncles.Beauclerk Dewar, Peter. ''Burke's landed gentry of Great Britain, 19th edition''. Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage and Gentry LLC, 2001. He was educated at

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, and was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

, in 1849.

Political career

Adam was secretary to the

Governor of Bombay Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...

, Lord Elphinstone (his second cousin), from 1853 to 1858. In 1859 he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Clackmannan and Kinross, a seat he held until 1880. He served as a

Lord of the Treasury In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, serving as a commission for the ancient office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second Lord of th ...

under

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...

and Lord Russell from 1865 to 1866 and under Gladstone from 1868 to 1873. In August 1873 he was sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

and appointed

by Gladstone. In September of the same year he was given the additional post of

Paymaster-General His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The incumbent Paymaster General is Jeremy Quin MP. History The post was created in 1836 by the merger of the posit ...

, and retained both offices until the fall of the Gladstone government in February 1874. Between 1874 and 1880 Adam was a Liberal whip. When the Liberals returned to power under Gladstone in May 1880, he was once again made

. In December 1880 he was appointed

, which he remained until his death in May of the following year. Adam was also the author of ''Thoughts on Policy of Retaliation'' and served as a Deputy Lieutenant of

Kinross-shire The County of Kinross or Kinross-shire is a historic county and registration county in eastern Scotland, administered as part of Perth and Kinross since 1930. Surrounding its largest settlement and county town of Kinross, the county borders Per ...

and

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

Personal life

Adam married Emily, daughter of General Sir William Wyllie, in 1856. They had several children. Adam died in May 1881, aged 57, in

Ooty Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a city and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north west of Coimbatore and ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, where he was also buried. His wife Emily was awarded the Order of the Crown of India in October 1881. In 1882 their eldest son

Charles Adam Admiral Sir Charles Adam (6 October 1780 – 19 September 1853) was a British naval commander and Lord of the Admiralty who served during the Napoleonic Wars. He later commanded the royal yacht, ''Royal Sovereign'', and was the Member of Parl ...

was created a baronet, of Blair Adam in the County of Kinross, in honour of his father (see Adam baronets) and the same year Emily Adam was granted the precedence of a baronet's wife. She died in November 1906.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, William Patrick 1823 births 1881 deaths Scottish Liberal Party MPs Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 Governors of Madras Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Deputy Lieutenants of Kinross-shire Deputy Lieutenants of Fife Members of the Inner Temple