McManus 168

Business career

John Adam was one of the founding partners of Halket & Adam, set up in 1837.^[10]

He was married to Helen Halket and, following the death of her brother, William Halket, in January 1848, she became owner of William’s half share in the business.^[13] In 1851 the firm employed over 100 hands.^[1]

In 1853 John Adam was made a Burgess of Dundee by virtue of his marriage to Helen, who was the daughter of William Halket (father of the aforesaid William Halket who died in 1848) a Burgess and manufacturer in Dundee.^[14]

Halket & Adam were exhibitors at the International Exhibition of 1862.^[15]

John Adam retired in 1876.^[10]

In 1893, John Adam junior, the subscriber’s son, received a patent for a “continuous hanking machine for cord or ropes.“^[16]

Halket & Adam’s works suffered serious fires in 1899^[17] and 1904^[18] but were rebuilt.

Halket & Adam was incorporated under the Companies Acts in 1931, following sale to Mr J.P. Crystal, a partner of the firm of Robert Baxter & Co, sack and twine manufacturers, Dundee, on the death of John Adam junior.^[19]

Dundee Industrial Schools Society

The Dundee Industrial Schools were set up to care for and educate poor and neglected children and prepare them for adult life. John Adam was a Director of Dundee Industrial Schools Society from a very early period in their history and as Convener of the Home Committee, he played a very important role in the management of both the schools and the home.^[11] He was involved in improving education for ‘part- timers’ (children under the age of 13 years), especially those involved in the rope and twine trade.

The first school was opened in Dundee in 1846 between Tay Street and Temple Lane. It moved to new premises in Ward Road and in 1856 it was certified for use as a reformatory. The boys were removed to a bigger site, in less polluted environs, in Baldovan in 1878. In 1880 John Adam is recorded as having attended the first annual visit to the school in Baldovan.^[20] Some limited accommodation was available for girls there from 1893 but most of the girls remained in Ward Road, before being relocated to bigger premises at Balgay Park in 1896.^[21] John Adam laid the foundation stone for the Girls’ School at Balgay in 1896.^[22]

He remained a generous donor to the Society up to the time of his death.^[11]

Dundee Royal Infirmary

John Adam was a Director and then Chairman and thereafter Vice-President until his death of Dundee Royal Infirmary. In his obituary, the Dundee Evening Telegraph  noted that it was his connection with and work on behalf of the Dundee Royal Infirmary that “above all entitled him to the gratitude of Dundee citizens.”^[10]

Death

At the time of his death in 1905 John Adam, at 94, was one of the oldest citizens of Dundee. In his obituary, the Dundee Evening Telegraph commented that his reminiscences included the celebration of the victory at Waterloo and the times of King William IV^[10]. He left his estate, then valued at about £34,000, to his family.^[23][4][3]