Biography

William Henry Adams 1859 – 1948

William Henry Adams was the eldest son of John and Elizabeth (nee Stacey) Adams, formally of Bristol, Glouster, England and later after immigrating in 1865, of Otago, N.Z. He was born on the 14th of August 1859 and arrived in New Zealand aged 6 yrs.

William was educated at Halfway Bush and Arthur Street Schools and later took night classes through the Caledonian Society. Following his schooling he was briefly employed as a message boy for James Walls, Ironmonger, at 10s a week. William then took a position at Mr A.R. Livingstone’s stationery firm and became an apprentice book binder. William also worked as a farm labourer in the Oamaru district and had various jobs in city printing firms before joining the staff at the Otago Daily Times c 1898 where he remained for more than 50 years.

William also held a prominent position in the Presbyterian Church where he served as an elder also for over 50 years. In 1887 he was appointed treasurer for the North Dunedin Presbyterian Church. In August 1890 he was made an elder of the church and 1901 became a senior elder of the Dunedin Presbytery. He was on the Publications Committee for 45 years and was the honorary publisher of the Outlook for 41 years, only giving up that post in 1937 when the printing of the journal was removed to the north. William was session clerk of First Church for over 40 years and treasurer of the Presbyterian Women’s Training Institution since its foundation in 1912. For 25 years William was a member of the committee of the Presbyterian Social Service Assn. and was also a member of the Knox College Building Committee.

William was also a Justice of the Peace, a member of the Y.W.C.A. Advisory Board and a director of the Y.M.C.A. board for several years. He was a member of the Otago Early Settlers Assoc., a Trustee of the Good Templars Lodge and Chairman of the Committee for the George Street School in 1897.

From the 1870s untill the time of his death sport was important to William and played a large part in his life.In 1878 he was Captain of the Waverley Cricket Club and also joined the Carisbrook Club of which he was Captain of the senior team for a period. He was also a keen Rugby footballer and in his youth he was a member of the Union Club. William also captained a team that took part in the representative trials in 1882. In later years he found his interest in bowling and was a member of the Dunedin Club for 33 years, being president in 1920.

In 1883 William married Eliza Johnston Dagger the daughter of Mr and Mrs Thomas Dagger, pioneer settlers who arrived in Dunedin in 1863. The couple had a least one son, Thomas Dagger Adams who became Professor of Classics at Otago University.