Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/35

 She survived him with an only daughter, Edith Juliet Mary.

Three brass tablets were erected to his memory one by the patron, Sir Thomas Hare, in Stow Bardolph church; another by Lord Roberts in a little church in the fen district of Stow, built as a memorial; and the third in Peshawar Church, put up in 1910 by friends who had known 'Padre Adams' in Peshawar or during the Afghan war.

 ADAMS, WILLIAM DAVENPORT (1851–1904), journalist and compiler, born at Brixton on 25 Dec. 1851, was elder son of William Henry Davenport Adams (1828-1891) [q. v. Suppl. I] by his wife Sarah Esther Morgan. Entering Merchant Taylors' School in January 1863, he went to Edinburgh University, but ill-health precluded his securing any academic distinction. Becoming a journalist, he was appointed in 1875 leader-writer and literary and dramatic critic for the 'Glasgow Daily News,' and later he edited the evening and weekly editions. From 1878 to 1880 he was editor of the 'Greenock Advertiser'; from 1880 to 1882 acting-editor of the 'Nottingham Guardian'; from 1882 to 1885 editor of the 'Derby Mercury'; and from 1885 till his death literary editor and dramatic critic of the London 'Globe.'

Adams's main interest lay in the drama, and the leisure of twenty years was devoted to the compilation of 'A Dictionary of the Drama,' which was to be 'a guide to the plays, playwrights, players, and playhouses of the United Kingdom and America, from the earliest times to the present day.' Only the first of the two projected volumes (A-G) was completed at Adams's death at Putney on 27 July 1904. He was buried at Putney Vale cemetery. On 19 Oct. 1875 he married Caroline Estelle, daughter of John Korner, a Polish exile of noble family.

Besides the comprehensive but unfinished 'Dictionary of the Drama' (1904), Adams published: 1. 'A Dictionary of English Literature, being a comprehensive guide to English authors and their works,' 1878. 2. 'By-Ways in Book-Land,' 1888. 3. 'A Book of Burlesque,' 1891. 4. 'With Poet and Player: Essays on Literature and the Stage,' 1891.

 ADAMS-ACTON, JOHN (1830–1910), sculptor, born at Acton Hill, Middlesex, on 11 Dec. 1830, was the son of William Adams, a tailor, of Acton Hill by his wife Helen Elizabeth Humphreys (Par. Reg.). Two sons and three daughters survived the father. The second daughter, Clarissa, engaged in art and exhibited at the Royal Academy. To avoid confusion with other artists of the same name, Adams adopted in 1869 the additional surname of Acton from his birthplace.

Educated at Lady Byron's school, Baling, he received his first tuition as a sculptor under Timothy Butler. He subsequently worked in the studio of Matthew Noble [q. v.], and during 1853-8 studied at the Royal Academy Schools, where his promise was liberally recognised. He won first medals in the antique and life classes, and the gold medal for an original sculpture group, 'Eve supplicating forgiveness at the feet of Adam,' in December 1855. As a student he exhibited a medallion of Dr. Chalton in 1854, and other medallions in 1855 and 1856. In 1858 he gained the Academy's travelling studentship, and was at Rome till 1865. There his success in portraiture, to which he devoted his main efforts, excited the admiration of John Gibson [q. v.], who sent many visitors to his studio.

After 1865 Acton settled in London, where he was soon busily employed. He executed the Wesley memorial in Westminster Abbey, the Cruikshank memorial in St. Paul's Cathedral, the statue of Wesley before the City Road chapel, and the memorial of Cardinal Manning in the new Roman Catholic Cathedral at Westminster. He also executed a colossal statue of Sir Titus Salt, erected near Bradford Town Hall in 1874, and statues of Queen Victoria for Kingston and the Bahamas, of Mr. Gladstone, a close friend and the godfather of his fourth son, for Blackburn and Liverpool, and of Bishop Waldegrave for Carlisle Cathedral. Edward VII, as Prince of Wales, sat to him many times, and the Emperor and Empress Frederick of Germany showed interest in his art. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy till 1892, sending there statues or busts of Gladstone (1865, 1868, 1869, 1873, 1879), Lord Brougham (1867, 1868), John Bright (1870), Charles Dickens (1871), Charles Spurgeon (1874), Earl Russell (1874), Archbishop Manning (1884), the earl 