Orders, Decorations and Medals

King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps (Capt. W. A. Adams, 5/Lcrs.) slight contact marks, very fine £160-200

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Medals from the Collection of Brigadier Brian Parritt, C.B.E..

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William Augustus Adams was born in Dublin on 27 May 1865, the son of the Reverend B. W. Adams, D.D., of Santry, Co. Dublin and Kinner, Co. Cavan. He resumed the old family surname of ‘Adam’ in 1907. He was educated at Harrow, 1879-81, and Dublin University, where he gained a 1st Class Honours degree in Classics and Modern History. A Gold Medallist in English Literature and Modern Languages, he went on to gain an M.A. After university he went to Sandhurst and in February 1887 was commissioned into the King’s Liverpool Regiment. He was promoted to Lieutenant in July 1889 and Captain in November 1893. In 1894 he transferred to the 5th Lancers. He graduated from Staff College in 1900 and was a qualified interpreter in French, Russian, Hindustani, Japanese and other languages. With the 5th Lancers he saw action in the Boer War, serving in operations in Natal during 1899, including the action at Lombard’s Kop, Defence of Ladysmith, including the sortie of 7 December 1899, and the action of 6 January 1900. Further service followed in the Transvaal, 30 November 1900-July 1901, and the Cape Colony, July 1901-31 May 1902. For his services he was awarded the Queen’s medal with 4 clasps and the King’s medal with two. Promoted to Major in February 1903, he was on special service in Japan during the Russo-Japanese War of 1903-05. However, on his return, his military career hit the buffers.

As a result of the system of ‘confidential reports’ in the Army, Major Adams and four other officers of 5th Lancers were called upon to resign in 1906. Though struck off the strength of his regiment he was able to secure a staff appointment under Sir Spencer Ewart at the War Office, 1906-09, all the time seeking redress for himself and his fellow officers. In spite of continual pressure by Major Adam, the War Office refused to review his case. After standing unsuccessfully for Parliament in 1906, in January 1910 he was elected the Unionist Member of Parliament for Woolwich, but his tenure was short-lived and he lost his seat in the election of December the same year. In 1910, as an M.P. he brought the case before the House of Commons but without result. He then turned to the law courts for redress and launched a libel action against Sir Edward Ward, former Secretary of the Army Council, for allegedly making disparaging remarks about him in a letter when he was standing for election. Major Adam won his case and was awarded £2,000 damages. However, the Army Council took the case to the Court of Appeal who reversed the judgment on the grounds that the letter was privileged, a ruling which was then upheld by the House of Lords. Refused all suitable employment during the Great War, in January 1917 he was gazetted out of the Army. Adam then returned to Harrow as a Master, all the while maintaining that not only had his army career been ruined by the improper treatment of his case, but his political career as well. As late as 1933 an application to reopen the case was turned down by the Secretary of State for War. He had several works published - including the story of his own prolonged litigation Whither? On the British Dreyfus Case (1920). In 1912 he married Lady Antonia Maude, the youngest daughter of the 1st and last Earl de Montalt. After her death in 1927 he married secondly in 1928, Queenie daughter of Sir Stephen Penfold. William Augustus Adam died at Little Foord, Brabourne, Kent on 18 October 1940. Interest from money left to Harrow School where he had been both a pupil and master was used to fund an annual history prize - ‘The Adam History Prize’.

Sold with a quantity of copied newspaper cuttings, extracts and research.