Robert Alexander Shafto Adair, 1st Baron Waveney (25 August 1811 – 15 February 1886) was a British

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician who served as a

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 of ...

(MP) for

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

for 8 of the years from 1847 to 1857.

Life

Born in

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, Ireland, he was the older of the two sons of Sir Robert Shafto Adair, 1st Baronet, and his first wife Elizabeth Maria Strode. He married Theodosia Meade in 1836; they had no children. Adair first stood for election to

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in April 1843, when he was the runner-up at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

for the Eastern division of Suffolk. He was unsuccessful again at a by-election for the borough of

in July 1845,Craig, op. cit., pages 76–77 but at the 1847 general election he was elected as one of Cambridge's two MPs. He was defeated at the 1852 general election, but that result was overturned on petition and he was returned to the

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at the resulting by-election in August 1854. He was unseated again in 1857 general election, and, at the 1859 general election, again unsuccessfully contested East Suffolk. He stood again one more time, in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

at the 1865 general election, but did not win a seat.Craig, op. cit., page 79 He was appointed

High Sheriff of Antrim The High Sheriff of Antrim is the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Antrim. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the high sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besides his judi ...

in 1853. A

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

, he succeeded to the baronetcy in 1869, on the death of his father. He was ennobled on 10 April 1873, as Baron Waveney, of

South Elmham The Saints are a group of villages in the north of the English county of Suffolk, between the rivers Blyth and Waveney near to the border with Norfolk. The villages are all named after a saint (that of their parish church), and either South E ...

in the

County of Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowestof ...

. He was Provincial Grand Master of the

United Grand Lodge of England The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) is the governing Masonic lodge for the majority of freemasons in England, Wales and the Commonwealth of Nations. Claiming descent from the Masonic grand lodge formed 24 June 1717 at the Goose & Gridiron T ...

Masonic province of Suffolk at the time of his death. He served as

Lord Lieutenant of Antrim A list of people who have served as Lord-Lieutenant of County Antrim, Antrim, located in Northern Ireland. There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II of England, James II, when they were renamed governors.George Edw ...

from 1884 until his death in 1886, aged 74, when the peerage became extinct and he was succeeded in the baronetcy by his younger brother

Hugh Hugh may refer to: *Hugh (given name) Noblemen and clergy French * Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks * Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II * Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...

(1815–1902), who had been MP for

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

from 1847 to 1874.

Ballymena

The Adair family owned extensive estates in

, and have been described as the "founding fathers" of the town. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles 1 in 1626, on the provision that the town holds two annual fairs and a free Saturday market in perpetuity. In 1865 Adair began the construction in the demesne of Ballymena Castle, a substantial family residence in the

Scottish baronial Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...

style. The castle was not completed until 1887, and was demolished in 1957 after having lain empty for some years and being vandalised; the site is now a car park, where said Saturday market is held. In 1870, Adair donated The People's Park to Ballymena, engaging fifty labourers to work for six months landscaping it.

References

External links

* *
Adair family archives
at the National Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Adair, Robert

Waveney Waveney may refer to: * River Waveney, a river that forms the boundary between Suffolk and Norfolk, England * Waveney District, a local government district in Suffolk, England * Waveney (UK Parliament constituency) * Waveney class lifeboat, a class ...

Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1847–1852 UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs who were granted peerages

Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria