William Adam
William Adam - A Famous Scottish Lawyer And Politician
William Adam (1751-1839) William Adam was born on the 2nd of August 1751 and was the eldest, and only surviving, son of the architect John Adam, Blair-Adam, Kinross-shire who was master mason to the Board of Ordnance in Scotland. The family was considerably wealthy and William was able to study at both the University of Edinburgh & at Christ Church College of Oxford University studying law. In 1769 he joined Lincoln's Inn (one of the four "Inns of Court" in London) as a barrister. In 1773 he became a Scottish Advocate and was called to the English bar in 1782..
William Adam had very great political ambitions but was, at times, forced to concentrate on his work in law. Although his family should be considered wealthy by the standards of the day it was common for his father to find himself in financial difficulties (I suppose we refer to this today as cash flow problems!). Adam was able to maintain his law practice while serving as an M. P. (member of Parliament). During his political career William Adam represented a number of different constituencies. In 1774 he was elected as MP for Gatton (in Surrey) and served until 1780 when he represented the Scottish Wigtown Burghs (until 1784) when he again moved constituencies to represent the Elgin Burghs (1784-1790), then Ross-shire (1790-1794) and then Kincaredinshire (1806-1812).
During William Adam's political career he had twice held the office of Treasurer of the Ordnance during the period 1780-1782 and again for a shorter period in 1783. The office was, in 1836, merged with others to form the office of Paymaster General. Adam was a Whig, a grouping of Scottish and English Members of Parliament (which eventually became the Liberal Party in 1889), but initially supported Lord North (Prime Minister of Great Britain 1770-1782). However he soon came to disagreement over their differing views on American issues.
William Adam appears to have been a man capable of having an incredibly intense dispute while not holding grudges. This can be seen in his relationship with Lord North's political opponent, Charles James Fox. Adam made his dislike of Fox extremely clear by the nature of his verbal attacks in the House and he even fought a duel with him. He followed a hard line on American issues and when the question of peace arose, Adam spoke, and voted, against the acceptance of peace with America. Once the issues had been resolved both men were able to put their differences to one side and Adam was to find himself actually supporting a coalition between Fox and North (though this was considered the only option at the time as the Whigs were in minority).
William Adam's political career then seemed to lose steam. This is not really that surprising when you consider the fact that during the whole period he was able to keep his law practice. William Adam had a great many friends which included famous Scots such as Sir Walter Scott but also the Prince of Wales and, following his political career, he was, through the Prince of Wales, appointed Solicitor General in 1802 and then in 1805 he was appointed Attorney General to the Prince. In 1806 he became Chancellor of the Duchy of Cornwall (until 1815).
It was common for William Adam to hold several positions at the same time, mentioned earlier was the fact that he remained an active lawyer during his political career but from 1802 he was also Lord Lieutenant of Kinrossshire , from 1815 he was Lord Chief Commissioner of the recently formed Scottish Jury Court, he remained as both until his death in 1839 (Edinburgh). He was also a Baron of the Scottish Court of Exchequer for the period 1814-1819. During his law career Adam found himself one of the managers of the impeachment of Warren Hastings, and one of the counsel who defended the first Lord Melville when impeached.
I think all would agree that Mr William Adam was busy and widely successful man.
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