ADAMSON, Robert

b. 1821; d. 14 January 1848

Little is known about him, his brother, John, being relatively famous. Poor health prevented him from following an engineering career. He had a short business association with David Octavius Hill. In this partnership it would appear that Adamson was predominantly the technician, Hill the artist, and indeed when calotypes were exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, artistic credit was given to Hill, the photography to Adamson.

The partnership arose from the need to make a record of a large number of people who were the founding fathers of the Free Church of Scotland (see Hill), but in fact their work consists of much more than that. There are numerous portraits, there are pictures which give us some glimpse of the times in which they lived, and some splendid landscape pictures.

The partnership was short, lasting only four years or so, and broken by Adamson's early death at the age of twenty-seven. Nevertheless it was a remarkably productive one, and quite stunning photographs still remain.

© Robert Leggat, 2000