Charles Adam

Admiral Sir Charles Adam (6 October 1780 – 19 September 1853) was a Royal Navy officer and politician who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He later commanded the royal yacht, Royal Sovereign, and was the Member of Parliament for Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire.

Adam served as Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station. He also 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's forces from Syria in 1840 and ensured technological progress continued. He was also the father of William Patrick Adam, a colonial administrator and Liberal politician. Later in life, he was Governor, Greenwich Hospital.

Naval career

Born at Blairadam House just north of Kelty in Fife he was the second son of William Adam (of Blair Adam) and Eleanora Adam (the daughter of Charles Elphinstone, 10th Lord Elphinstone), Adam joined the Royal Navy in 1790. He served under his maternal uncle, Admiral Lord Keith, in the Mediterranean Fleet and during the capture of the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch. While commanding Sybille, he captured the French Chiffonne under difficult circumstances at Mahé in the Seychelles.

Adam was promoted rear admiral on 27 May 1825. In the 1831 General election he was elected Member of Parliament for the alternating constituency of Kinross-shire which had previously been held by several members of his family. After the Reform Act 1832 (2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 45) he was elected for the combined Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire, which he held until 1841. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 10 January 1835 and was again appointed First Naval Lord, this time in the Second Melbourne ministry, on 25 April 1835.

Adam was a friend of Lord Auckland and brother-in-law to Lord Minto, both of whom served as First Lord of the Admiralty during his time in office, fostering a close working relationship. He was also on good terms with Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary.

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, aboard (flag-captain John Erskine). and was promoted admiral on 8 January 1848.

Adam died at Greenwich on 16 September 1853. Adam Bay, Northern Territory, at the mouth of the Adelaide River, was named for him.