twice severely wounded. Adam's dispositions are censured by Napier in this combat; but he hardly allows enough for his hourly expectation of Lord William Bentinck, though he acknowledges his personal gallantry in the action.
On his return to England owing to his wounds, he had a flattering reception, and in June 1814 was made major-general. When an army was ordered to assemble in Flanders on the news of the return of Napoleon from Elba, General Adam was appointed to command a brigade in Lord Hill's division, consisting of the 52nd, 71st, and 95th regiments. At the battle of Waterloo this brigade was stationed at the extreme right of the English position to keep open the communications with the corps at Hal, and to act if Napoleon attempted to turn the English right. When it was evident that the French attack was upon the English front, Adam's brigade was slowly advanced to be able to take in flank any attack in column made on the English right centre. Accordingly, when the Old Guard advanced in the final attack of the day, Adam's brigade, and notably the 52nd regiment under Colonel Colborne, suddenly fired upon its flank as it advanced, and charged it. It has been asserted that by this charge the 52nd regiment, that is Adam's brigade, for his regiments were all together, won the battle of Waterloo, and not the English guards. But the probable solution of conflicting evidence is that the column of the Old Guard got slightly disarranged, and that, at the same time that the guards under General Cooke drove back the head of the column, Adam's brigade broke the formation of the second half. Whether Adam or Colborne won the battle or not, it is certain that their flank attack prevented the Old Guard from reforming, and confirmed the victory. For his services on this day Major-general Adam was made a K.C.B., a knight of the order of Maria Theresa, and of St. Andrew of Russia.
The last thirty-eight years of his life were peaceful. From 1817 to 1822 he commanded the division at Malta, and in 1820 was nominated K.C.M.G. In 1824 he was made G.C.M.G., and was lord high commissioner of the Ionian Isles from 1824 to 1831. In 1830 he became lieutenant-general, in 1831 was sworn of the privy council, and from 1832 to 1837 was governor of Madras. In 1835 he was made colonel of the 57th regiment, which he exchanged for that of his old regiment, the 21st, in 1843. In 1840 he was nominated G.C.B., and was promoted full general in 1846. On 17 Aug. 1853 he fell dead suddenly in the Greenwich railway station after leaving his brother Sir Charles, who was governor of Greenwich Hospital. His military reputation rests on the campaigns of Castalla and Waterloo, and from them it may be conjectured that he would have distinguished himself in higher commands.
[For General Adam's services see Philippart's Royal Military Calendar, 3rd edition, 1820, vol. iii. For the battle of Castalla and the combat of Ordall see Napier's Peninsular War, book xx. chap. 4, and book xxi. chap. 2. For Adam's brigade at Waterloo, besides Siborne, consult particularly Leeke's The 52nd at Waterloo.]
ADAM, JAMES (d. 1794), architect, was the younger brother of Robert Adam, and so associated with him in all his works that it is difficult to assign any particular building to him. He is generally credited with the design of Portland Place. For some time before the reform of the board of works by Burke's bill he held the appointment of architect to George III, and was master mason of the board of ordnance in North Britain. He was the author of ‘Practical Essays on Agriculture,’ and was engaged on a history of architecture at the time of his death. This took place in Albemarle Street on 20 Oct. 1794, and was caused by apoplexy. [See Adam, Robert.]
[Redgrave's Dict.; Gent. Mag. 1794; Annual Register, 1794; Scots Mag. 1794.]
ADAM, JEAN (1710–1765), a Scottish poetess, daughter of a shipmaster, was born in 1710 at Crawfordsdyke, parish of Greenock, Renfrewshire. Early an orphan, she entered the service of a minister, Mr. Turner, of Greenock, as nursery governess and housemaid. Having the use of the manse library, she gave herself a fair education, and wrote many poems, which were collected and published for her in 1734 by Mrs. Drummond, of Greenock, in a work entitled ‘Miscellany Poems, by Mrs. Jane Adams (her changed name), in Crawfordsdyke,’ Glasgow, 1734. Mr. Archibald Crawford wrote the preface, and the authoress dedicated her poems to ‘Thomas Crawford, of Crawfordburn,’ under the varied signature of Jean Adams, giving a list of ministers, merchants, and gentry, to the number of 154 subscribers. The volume, which is complete with index, is said in the preface to be in two parts, one ‘all in meeter,’ the other in ‘blank verse in imitation of Milton;’ but there is no blank verse in the book. The poems, all religious, are written in the Brady and Tate style, and are poor specimens indeed of what she called ‘the style of the best English poets that have written within seventy years.
