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Country Code
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GB
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Repository Code
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800001
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Repository
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Private
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Reference
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NRAS1454
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Title
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Adam Family, of Blair Adam, Fife
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Dates
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1745-1839
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Access Status
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Restricted
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Access Conditions
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These records are held privately. All enquiries should be addressed to:
The Registrar
National Register of Archives for Scotland
H M General Register House
Edinburgh
EH1 3YY
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Description
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The papers comprise:
Political and personal correspondence addressed to William Adam, 1816-19, subjects include the Marquess of Hastings' debts, the Prince Regent, the Jury Bill, Sir Walter Scott's baronetcy, the Peterloo Massacre, the Scottish regalia, and proposed biography of Adam Ferguson; correspondents include Lords Eldon, Sidmouth, and Rev Henry Duncan, Sir Walter Farquhar, Sir Benjamin Bloomfield, Richard Westmacott, Sir Henry Raeburn, Frances W Austen. Replaces survey no. 63. [2/28-2/75]
Correspondence and papers of William Adam, 1745-1839. Miscellaneous papers concerning royal family, 1788-1811, including letter from George III to H Dundas, 1793. Letters and papers concerning Prince and Princess of Wales (George IV and Queen Caroline), 1789-1834, including: letters from Prince to William Adam concerning finances and marriage, 1789-1811; papers concerning regency, royal establishment and civil list, 1810-12, his debts, 1805-12, and accounts for work at Brighton, 1806-9; surgical operation, visit to Scotland and gift of orrery, 1822, and Wilkie's picture of arrival at Holyrood, 1824; letters and papers concerning Princess Caroline's conduct and her divorce, 1806-21, including synopsis of novel by Ashe, `The Claustral Palace', c.1812; letters of and concerning Princess Charlotte, 1805-14, including letters of Dr G F Nott, 1805-8. Letters and papers concerning personal, financial and military affairs of Duke of York, 1788-1833, including: letters from Duke to Adam with copy replies, 1791-1821; accounts for personal articles, furniture and furnishings, 1788-1814, and alterations by Henry Holland at York House and Oatlands, 1790-1803; memorial on his illness and death, 1826-7, and letters concerning Mrs Clarke, 1833. Letters and papers concerning personal and financial affairs of Duke of Clarence, c. 1790-1836, including: letters from Duke to Adam concerning Mrs Jordan, 1790-1812; personal and household accounts and papers concerning debts, 1791-1813. Letters from Mrs Dorothea Jordan to Adam concerning her financial and personal affairs, 1791-1802. Papers concerning personal affairs of Lady Augusta Murray, (Duchess of Inverness), 1796-1834, and debts of Duke of Sussex, 1802-7. Letters from Duke of Kent to Adam concerning his finances, 1805-11. Papers concerning administration of Duchy of Cornwall, 1785-1829, English royal parks, 1805-17, and the Ordnance, 1780-1819.
Correspondence, memoranda, speeches and other papers relating to political and public affairs, c.1780-1838; subjects include: Fox-North coalition, India Bill and Hastings impeachment, election of Adam as MP for Wigtown burghs, Elgin burghs, Ross-shire and Kincardineshire, 1780-1811, the press, 1790, political and ecclesiastical patronage, radical reform, 1819, parliamentary and burgh reform, 1830-4, Perth by-election, 1834-5. Papers concerning Adam's duel with C J Fox, 1779, and subscriptions for Fox's debts, 1793-1807. Papers concerning appointments at Marischal College, 1811, chemical apparatus at St Andrews, 1812, and medical chairs and completion of college at Edinburgh, 1827-34.
Papers concerning proposed appointment of Adam as Chief Baron, 1811. Letters and papers concerning creation, operation and abolition of Jury Court, 1813-38, legal publications and criminal law reform, 1794-1837, including: account of Muir and Palmer's trial, and account of jury trials, 1835-6. Legal and financial papers concerning clients, c.1789-1831, including: Lord Hastings, 1808-25, R B Sheridan, 1808-15, Lord Seaforth, 1811-15, Perth family, 1807-10, Lord Holland, 1797, and Loch family, 1820-2.
Papers concerning Fife and Kinross county affairs, including: letters, papers and pamphlets concerning Queensferry crossing, Great North Road, and other roads and bridges, 1814-37; alterations to Dunfermline church and exhumation of Robert the Bruce, 1817-19; subscriptions for relief of weavers, 1826-8. Correspondence, accounts and legal papers concerning Blair Adam house, garden and estate, 1777-1838, and Woodston estate, 1805-16, including: correspondence with Duke of Bedford concerning Woburn Abbey gardens, 1805-37; proposed Jury Court temple, 1838; control of roe deer, 1833-4. Papers concerning Adam family property in London, 1764, 1793.
Family and personal correspondence and papers, 1776-1838, including letters from his wife, 1776-98; subjects include: John Adam, secretary and acting governor general in India, and Indian public affairs, 1804-28, and Sir Frederick Adam, 1832; Sir Walter Scott's novels and financial difficulties, 1820's, the Abbotsford fund and Scott Monument, 1832-8; J G Lockhart's `Life of Scott', 1834-8; the Bannatyne Club and edition of `Ragman's Roll', 1831-8; Adam's accounts of Lauderdale's life and Adam family, 1838; memorials to C J Fox, Sir Henry Raeburn, Robert Burns, and Michael Bruce, 1822-38; public and private commissions of paintings and sculpture by Thomas Campbell, John Clerk of Eldin, W Collins, N. del Abbati, C Heath, A Henderson, J Hoppner, Sir Thomas Lawrence, E Landseer, H Raeburn, J Skene, Colvin Smith, Mary Stewart, Rev John Thomson, Richard Westmacott; parodic and other verse.
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1819-38. Correspondents include: Sir Robert Adair, Sir Frederick Adam, G J Bell, Sir D Brewster, H Bringloe, Lord Brougham, Hugh Cleghorn, Henry Cockburn, Lord Cullen, George Canning, George Dempster, Henry Dundas, Mountstuart Elphinstone, Henry Erskine, Adam Ferguson, Sir A Ferguson, Robert and William Ferguson of Raith, Lord Glenbervie, Dr J Gregory, Earl of Guilford, C J Fox, Lord Hastings, Lord Holland, Charles and John Hope, Francis Horner, T J Howell, Joseph Hume, Lord Grenville, Sir H Jardine, Francis Jeffrey, Lord Keith, Earl of Lauderdale, Sir R Liston, James Loch, Henry Mackenzie, Sir J Mackintosh, John Nash, Lord North, J A Murray, M Park, Spencer Perceval, Lord Pitmilly, W H Playfair, R Reid, Lord Henry Russell, Patrick Sellar, Sir Samuel Shepherd, R B Sheridan, Sir John Sinclair, Thomas Thomson, Sir H Moncreiff-Wellwood.
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Level
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Fonds
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Admin
History
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The Adam of Blair Adam family descends from William Adam, architect (1689-1748), who built a house at Blairadam in 1733 and a village which he called Maryburgh, after his wife Mary Robertson. William and Mary had four architect sons: John, Robert, James and William, of "Adelphi" fame, of whom the most celebrated was undoubtedly Robert Adam (1728-1792), and three daughters. Architectural interest is fully represented in the collection but the Adam family also distinguished themselves in such diverse spheres as British and Indian politics, and in military and naval service.
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Related Material
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Replaces pp 93-143 of NRAS Survey 63 (NRA 9954). See also NAS GD247 & NAS GD268
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