21 Facts About Acton Adams

William Acton Blakeway Adams, known as Acton Adams, was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from Nelson, New Zealand.

The Acton Adams family was descended from a William Acton Adams who inherited the property of the supposed Knight Sturmy, an 11th-century Crusader.

Acton Adams was the oldest son of William Acton Adams, an English solicitor.

Acton Adams's father was Marlborough's first Superintendent, the first Commissioner of Crown Lands, and afterwards member of the House of Representatives for Picton.

Acton Adams attended Nelson College from 1857 to 1859 being both Head Boy and Captain of the Cricket team.

Acton Adams left for England in 1867 to study law at the Inner Temple, London, and returned to Nelson in 1869 to become a junior partner in the firm.

From 1873 to 1876, Acton Adams represented the Nelson electorate in the Nelson Provincial Council.

Acton Adams successfully ran against Colonel Pitt for election to the House of Representatives in the Nelson electorate in an 1879 by-election as a supporter of Sir John Hall.

In 1881 Acton Adams fell seriously ill and as his medical advisors considered he may not recover he resigned from Parliament.

Acton Adams stepped down from his position with Adams and Kingdon at that time handing it over to his brother, Percy Adams.

Acton Adams's resignation caused the 1881 by-election, which was won by Henry Levestam.

When he moved to Christchurch in 1885, Acton Adams joined the Christchurch League that was seeking to have a railway connection with Nelson.

In 1881 Acton Adams went on a trip to Europe to regain his health, taking his family with him.

Acton Adams had agreed not to practise law in Nelson when he resigned from Adams and Kingdon.

Acton Adams continued his interest in sheep-farming, adding the Molesworth Station to Tarndale station, purchasing the Hopefield-Woodbank station in the Amuri district, acquiring Island Farm and the Salop Downs estates in Selwyn County, and purchasing a part of the Motunau property and other adjoining lands he founded the Tipapa Estate.

Acton Adams converted several thousand acres of tussock land to grass pastures.

Acton Adams was one of the largest landholders in Marlborough and Canterbury with some 75,000 sheep.

Acton Adams later returned to England to London where he continued to take a keen interest in New Zealand.

Acton Adams had three sons Herbert, Reginald, and Percy; and one daughter, Adine.

Acton Adams died in London at 74 Park Mansions, Knightsbridge on 24 January 1924 after what was described as a long and tedious illness that had resulted from an operation he had had in 1920.

Acton Adams was cremated and interred in the family vault near the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tenbury.