John Adamson

(b Fife, 1809; d St Andrews, Fife, 1870). Scottish photographer. He studied medicine in Edinburgh (1829) and Paris, but returned to St Andrews in the 1830s. A member of the St Andrews Literary and Philosophical Society, he associated with the circle interested in photographic experimentation and theory. Adamson experimented with Talbot's calotype process, introduced to Scotland by Sir David Brewster (1781-1868), and made the first calotype portrait in Scotland, of Miss Melville Adamson (c. 1842; Edinburgh, Royal Mus. Scotland; see Morrison-Low, p. 20). He taught several of the early Scottish photographers, including his younger brother, Robert (see HILL AND ADAMSON), and Thomas Rodger (1833-83) of St Andrews. Most of Adamson's surviving work is in the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, and St Andrews University Library.

See the Abbreviations for further details.

Adamson, John (1809-70), Scottish surgeon and photographer, the eldest of ten children of Rachel Melville and Alexander Adamson, farmer at Burnside near St Andrews. Educated in St Andrews and Edinburgh, he became a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1829. In 1835, after gaining practical experience abroad, Adamson returned to practise medicine in St Andrews. This left him time to do a little chemistry teaching in the local school between 1837 and 1840; he subsequently took classes for the terminally ill chemistry professor. He also became acquainted with the internationally renowned scientist Sir David Brewster, principal since 1838 of one of the university colleges. Brewster's correspondence with Henry Talbot allowed a group of enthusiasts in St Andrews to master the new science of negative-positive photography. One of its leading exponents, Adamson taught his younger brother Robert. After the latter left for Edinburgh in 1843, Adamson continued with photography, although as his medical practice prospered he spent less time with this. Having been (by repute) a competent daguerreotypist, he became proficient with the wet- collodion process, although strictly an amateur.

— A. D. Morrison-Low

Bibliography

• Morrison-Low, A. D., ‘Brewster, Talbot and the Adamsons: The Arrival of Photography in St Andrews’, History of Photography, 25 (2001)

John Adamson may refer to:

• John Adamson (university principal) (died 1652), principal of the University of Edinburgh, 1623–1652
• John Adamson (antiquary) (1787–1855), English antiquary
• John Adamson (Australian politician) (1857–1922)

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