Edward Hamlyn Adams

Edward Hamlyn Adams
Adams c. 1842
Member of Parliament
for Carmarthenshire
In office
1832–1834
Serving with George Rice-Trevor
Personal details
Born(1777-04-30)30 April 1777
Kingston, Colony of Jamaica
Died30 May 1842(1842-05-30) (aged 65)
Middleton Hall Estate, Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire, UKGBI
Spouse
Amelia Sophia
​
(m. 1796)​
Children5
Relatives
Profession

Edward Hamlyn Adams (30 April 1777 – 30 May 1842) was a British lawyer, slave contractor and politician.

Early life

Adams was born on 30 April 1777 in Kingston, Colony of Jamaica (present-day Jamaica) to William Adams and Elizabeth Anne Adams (née Coxeter). Adams had at least one older brother who died during childhood. Educated in England, Adams returned to Jamaica to study law.

Career

In 1807, Adams became a partner at the counting house in Atkinson, Mure, and Boyle. Owned by Alexander Lindsay, 6th Earl of Balcarres, Adams contracted slave-labour on behalf of the Earl to both the army and the civil government in Jamaica. Later entering into a business partnership with Robert Robertson, Adams contracted enslaved people into the Army. Adams also managed the coffee plantations of the 6th Earl of Balcarres in his absence.

In 1824, Adams purchased the Middleton Hall Estate (present-day site of the National Botanic Garden of Wales) in Llanarthne. A Justice of the peace for Carmarthenshire, Adams served as the High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire in 1831. From 1832 to 1834, Adams was a member of Parliament for Carmarthenshire. Adams purchased the 'Lord Nelson' inn (present-day 'Abadam Arms') in Porthyrhyd, Carmarthenshire, which was attacked in the Rebecca Riots.

Personal life

An 1815 painting of Middleton Hall

In 1796, Adams married Amelia Sophia Adams (née MacPherson) with whom he had five children. Adams was the grandfather of Eugene Lee-Hamilton, Vernon Lee and Alice Abadam.

On 30 May 1842, Adams died at Middleton Hall Estate aged 65.

Notes

  1. ↑ Also cited as Edward Hamlin Adams.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rees, Lowri Ann (2023). "'Aspire, persevere and indulge not': new wealth and gentry society in Wales, c. 1760–1840" (PDF). Rural History (34). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 262–277. doi:10.1017/S0956793322000267. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Edward Hamlin Adams". Legacies of British Slavery. London: UCL Department of History, University College London. Archived from the original on 23 May 2025. Retrieved 27 July 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Williams, William Retlaw (1895). "The Parliamentary History of the Principality of Wales, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, 1541–1895". Brecknock: Private printing, Edward Davies & Bell. p. 49. Retrieved 18 June 2018 – via Internet Archive.
  4. 1 2 "Atkinson, Hozier & Co.". Legacies of British Slavery. London: UCL Department of History, University College London. Retrieved 27 July 2026.
  5. ↑ "Robert Robertson of Auchleeks". Legacies of British Slavery. London: UCL Department of History, University College London. Retrieved 27 July 2026.
  6. ↑ "Military Group: Jamaica, St Andrew". Legacies of British Slavery. London: UCL Department of History, University College London. Retrieved 27 July 2026.
  7. 1 2 Hughes-Johnson, Alexandra (12 September 2019). "Abadam, Alice (1856–1940), suffrage activist and women's rights campaigner". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.112786. Retrieved 29 March 2025. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  8. 1 2 Thorley, Mary (2021). "Abadam, Alice (1856–1940), campaigner for women's rights". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Archived from the original on 20 January 2025. Retrieved 29 March 2025.
  9. ↑ Nicholas, Thomas (1991). Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 276. ISBN 9780806313146. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  10. ↑ Walford, Edward (1864). The County Families of the United Kingdom, Or Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland (2 ed.). Hardwicke. p. 1. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  11. ↑ Lee, Elizabeth; Maxwell, Catherine (23 September 2004). "Hamilton, Eugene Jacob Lee- (1845–1907), poet and novelist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/34471. Retrieved 27 July 2026. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  12. ↑ Gagel, Amanda (26 October 2016). Selected Letters of Vernon Lee, 1856–1935: Volume I, 1865–1884. Taylor & Francis. p. 392. ISBN 9781134976737. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  13. ↑ Cave, Edward; Nichols, John (1842). The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, for the Year ... p. 110. Retrieved 18 June 2018.