Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Sir Charles Adam (6 October 1780 – 19 September 1853) was a British naval commander and

Lord of the Admiralty This is a list of Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty (incomplete before the Restoration, 1660). The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty were the members of The Board of Admiralty, which exercised the office of Lord High Admiral when it was n ...

who served during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. He later commanded the royal yacht, ''Royal Sovereign'', and was the Member of Parliament for Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire. He held the office of First Naval Lord three times. In that capacity he dealt ably with the economies of a peacetime budget, provided naval support for the expulsion of

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

's forces from

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in 1840 and ensured technological progress continued. He was also the father of

William Patrick Adam 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 under William Gladstone and also served briefly as Governor of Madras betw ...

, a colonial administrator and

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician.

Naval career

Born at Blairadam House just north of

Kelty Kelty (Scottish Gaelic: Cailtidh) is a former coal mining village located in Fife, Scotland. Lying in the heart of the old mining heartlands of Fife, it is situated on the Fife/Kinross-shire boundary and has a population of around 6,000 res ...

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 (i ...

he was the second son of William Adam (of Blair Adam) and Eleanora Adam (the daughter of

Charles Elphinstone, 10th Lord Elphinstone Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

), Adam joined the Royal Navy in 1790. He served under his maternal uncle, Admiral Lord Keith, in the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...

and during the capture of the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

from the Dutch. He was made acting lieutenant by Keith in the third-rate on the

East Indies Station The East Indies Station was a formation and command of the British Royal Navy. Created in 1744 by the Admiralty, it was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies. Even in official documents, the term ''East Indies Station'' was ...

in 1795. Promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant on 8 February 1798, to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

on 16 May 1798 and to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 12 June 1799, Adam was given command of the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

''Sybille''. While commanding ''Sybille'', he captured the French ''Chiffonne'' under difficult circumstances at Mahé in the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

. Adam returned from the East Indies in 1802, and on 23 May 1803, was given command of the captured ''Chiffonne'', which operated in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

under Lord Keith until 1805. He commanded the fifth-rate ''Resistance'' from 27 August 1805 until 6 April 1810, and from 1811 until 1813, operated off the coast of Spain in command of the third-rate ''Invincible''. He briefly commanded the second-rate from 16 May 1814 to 29 June 1814, ending his active service.

Administrative career

After the war, Adam twice commanded the royal yacht, ''Royal Sovereign'', from 15 December 1814 until 7 February 1816 as acting captain and from 20 July 1821 to 25 May 1825 as captain. This appointment reflected the political influence of his father. During this period, in 1822, he married Elizabeth Brydone, by whom he had several children, including

. In 1824 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

. Adam was promoted

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

on 27 May 1825. In the 1831 General election he was elected Member of Parliament for the

alternating constituency As a result of the 1707 union of the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England (including Wales) to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, within the newly formed Parliament of Great Britain, Scotland had 48 constituencies representing seats f ...

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 ...

which had previously been held by several members of his family. After the

1832 Reform Act The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electo ...

he was elected for the combined Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire, which he held until 1841. He briefly served as First Naval Lord in the Wellington caretaker ministry from 1 November 1834 to 23 December 1834. He was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

on 10 January 1835 and was again appointed First Naval Lord, this time in the

Second Melbourne ministry The second Lord Melbourne ministry was formed in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland by the Viscount Melbourne in 1835. History Lord Melbourne's second government came to power after Sir Robert Peel's minority government resigned in ...

, on 25 April 1835. He also became

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...

and Sheriff Principal of

Kinross Kinross (, gd, Ceann Rois) is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, around south of Perth and around northwest of Edinburgh. It is the traditional county town of the historic county of Kinross-shire. History Kinross's origins are connect ...

on 1 April 1839. Adam was a friend of

Lord Auckland Baron Auckland is a title in both the Peerage of Ireland and the Peerage of Great Britain. The first creation came in 1789 when the prominent politician and financial expert William Eden was made Baron Auckland in the Peerage of Ireland. In ...

and brother-in-law to

Lord Minto Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The current earl is Gilbert Timothy George Lariston Elliot-Murray-Kynynm ...

, both of whom served as

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

during his time in office, fostering a close working relationship. He was also on good terms with

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 ...

, the Foreign Secretary. During his tenure, the

Admiralty Board The Admiralty Board is the body established under the Defence Council of the United Kingdom for the administration of the Naval Service of the United Kingdom. It meets formally only once a year, and the day-to-day running of the Royal Navy is ...

dealt ably with the economies of a peacetime budget, which his Whig loyalties prevented him from questioning. The one major naval campaign of the era was the expulsion of

's forces from

in 1840, an able demonstration of the continued strength of the Royal Navy. During this time, technological progress continued at the Admiralty, with the decision to adapt

Francis Pettit Smith Sir Francis Pettit Smith (9 February 1808 – 12 February 1874) was an English inventor and, along with John Ericsson, one of the inventors of the screw propeller. He was also the driving force behind the construction of the world's first scr ...

's screw

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

, and the new battleship designs of Sir William Symonds in 1841. During his tenure on the Board, Adam was promoted to vice admiral on 10 January 1837. After leaving the Board, Adam resumed a naval command. From 17 August 1841 until 27 December 1844, he was commander-in-chief of the

North America and West Indies Station The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956. The North American Station was separate from the Jamaica Station until 1830 when the t ...

, aboard (flag-captain John Erskine). On 24 July 1846, soon after the reappointment of Lord Auckland as First Lord of the Admiralty, he became First Naval Lord (in the

First Russell ministry Whig Lord John Russell led the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1846 to 1852. History Following the split in the Tory Party over the Corn Laws in 1846 and the consequent end of Sir Robert Peel's second governm ...

) for the third and last time. He retired the next year, on 20 July 1847, to become Governor of Greenwich Hospital, and was promoted

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

on 8 January 1848. The Officers Monument, Greenwich Hospital Cemetery

Adam died at Greenwich on 16 September 1853. He was buried in Greenwich Hospital Cemetery. The cemetery was largely cleared in the late 19th century to create a pocket park but his name is listed on the west face of the Officers Monument in the centre of the park. The

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, Legacies of British Slave-ownership and two projects based at UCL tracing the impact of slave-ownership on the formation of modern Britain (the

ESRC The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fundi ...

-funded Legacies of British Slave-ownership project, now complete, and the ESRC and AHRC-funded Structure and significance of British Caribbean slave-ownership 1763–1833, running from 2013 to 2015), highlight that Adam benefited from the compensation paid out following the abolition of slavery in 1833. According to the record, he benefited from a payment of £14,904,0s,5d, an approximate £1,263,000 in 2015, made by the government of United Kingdom and Great Britain as recorded by the Slave Compensation Commission and the records held at the National Archives in London and the National Archive and the records of the Slave Compensation Commission.

References

External links

*
William Loney RN
Career History * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, Charles 1780 births 1853 deaths People from Fife First Sea Lords and Chiefs of the Naval Staff Lords of the Admiralty Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars UK MPs 1831–1832 UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841 Lord-Lieutenants of Kinross-shire Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish sheriffs Scottish slave owners Recipients of payments from the Slavery Abolition Act 1833