James Makittrick Adair MD

FRCPE The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

(1728–1802) was a Scottish physician, pamphleteer, and

anti-abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

Early life

Born in 1728 in either

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire council area and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population ...

, to James Makittrick and his wife, the daughter of Robert Adair of

Kirkmaiden Kirkmaiden is a parish in the Rhins of Galloway, the most southerly in Scotland; the present Church of Scotland parish has the same name as and is approximately coterminous with the original pre-Reformation parish. The parish takes its name fro ...

Mull of Galloway The Mull of Galloway ( gd, Maol nan Gall, ; ) is the southernmost point of Scotland. It is situated in Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, at the end of the Rhins of Galloway peninsula. The Mull has one of the last remaining sections of natur ...

. Adair adopted his mother's maiden name in 1783. Sources differ as to the occupation of Adair's father.

Hugh James Rose Hugh James Rose (1795–1838) was an English Anglican priest and theologian who served as the second Principal of King's College, London. Life Rose was born at Little Horsted in Sussex on 9 June 1795 and educated at Uckfield School, where his fat ...

's ''New General Biographical Dictionary'' suggests he was an officer in the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. However the ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' suggests he was a Doctor living in Ayr.

Career

Adair was educated at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, earning his MD in 1766 with a dissertation on the subject of

Yellow Fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

in 1767. Upon graduation was appointed

surgeon's mate A surgeon's mate was a rank in the Royal Navy for a medically trained assistant to the ship's surgeon. The rank was renamed assistant surgeon in 1805, and was considered equivalent to the rank of master's mate/mate. In 1807, first-rate would ha ...

of the

sloop-of-war In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

HMS ''Porcupine'' (1746), bound to the

Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...

. Shortly after, he relocated to

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

, where assisting a relative in management of a plantation. After several years in the West Indies, he visited

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

where he made the acquaintance of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, before returning to Britain and settling in

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

, in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. Following the outbreak of

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, he returned to Antigua where he was appointed physician to Monk's Hill, and as one of the assistant judges of the Courts of

King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of commo ...

and

Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

. In 1783 Adair left the West Indies for the final time, and settled in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, where he resumed his medical practice.

Writing

Adair was also widely published author, with a primary focus on medical texts. Works include, ''Medical Cautions for the consideration of Invalids'', which espoused the health benefits of Spa towns such as Bath, ''An essay on diet and regimen'', and ''Essays on fashionable diseases [...[ and on Quacks and Quackery.'' Adair's irascible personality led to multiple disputes with his both his professional colleagues and those outside the medical community. These arose partly from a determined opposition to quackery, but was also attributed to his hot temper, as evidenced by his time served in HM Prison Winchester, Winchester Gaol for issuing a challenge to a duel. He was most famously involved in a long running dispute with Phillip Thicknesse, which began after the latter took exception to a presumed insult in ''Medical Cautions.'' After a number of back and forths, including a dedication in which Adair referred to his rival as “Censor-General of Great-Britain, Professor of Empiricism, and Nostrum, Rape, and Murder-Monger to the St. James's Chronicle“, Adair published a book containing so-called errata to Thicknesse's memoirs, presumably fabricated, accompanied by satiricial woodcut frontispiece''.'' In addition to his medical work, he published a number of spiritual and satirical works including ''The Methodist and the Mimick'', under

nom de plume A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of Peter Paragraph. Most controversially however, was his 1790 anti-abolitionist pamphlet ''Unanswerable Arguments against the Abolition of the Slave Trade'', where Adair presented an argument that drew from his own experience on the plantations of Antigua, presenting

chattel slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

as a paternalistic system that provided a better quality of life for the enslaved people than freedom would''.''

Family

Adair married several times, and had a daughter, Anne Adair, and a son, James Makittrick Adair. The younger James was a friend of

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

, and married Charlotte Hamilton, the half-sister of Gavin Hamilton. He also followed his father into the medical profession, and was also elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1793.

Death and Burial

Adair died in

in 1801, and was buried in the churchyard of

Alloway Auld Kirk The Alloway Auld Kirk, which dates back to the 16th Century, is a ruin in Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland, celebrated as the scene of the witches' dance in the poem " Tam o' Shanter" by Robert Burns. Robert Burns William Burnes, father of the ...

. Earlier versions of the

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

erroneously stated that he died in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

in 1802, which are in fact the details for his son of the same name.

References

1728 births 1801 deaths 18th-century Scottish medical doctors Scottish surgeons Scottish writers British colonial judges in the Americas Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 18th-century Scottish judges {{Authority control