3.1 A Cornish Childhood

John Couch Adams was born on 5 June 1819 at Lidcott Farm in Laneast just north of Bodmin Moor, Cornwall (His early letters spell it Litcott). As Adams’s upbringing and childhood experiences were to shape the man he became, it is consequently worth exploring the location in which he spent his formative years. Cornwall forms the most southwestern extent of England and the Cornish are promontory people. Ethnically different to the rest of England, recent DNA evidence has shown the Cornish to be a distinct genetic group which relates to the oldest population within the UK, (Callaway, E. 2015) the earliest Neolithic settlers. This is in part due to isolation through geography, as the duchy of Cornwall bounds just one English county, Devon. The Tamar river defines this boundary neatly and other than a few miles of land between the river’s source and the sea, Cornwall in its entirety would form an island. It is a county apart; one which considers itself its own country and from 1844 was granted the legal framework within which to do this. The 1844 Duchy of Cornwall Act declared the land a Duchy and not part of the crown and it’s the only part of the UK to hold this status (Duchy of Cornwall Act, 1844).

Access into Cornwall in the early 1800s would have been by dirt track road, navigating past the moorland of Dartmoor and then Bodmin. A southern route would have been by ferry crossing at Plymouth, over the river Tamar and then a long coach journey by road. Travel into the duchy was laborious and at times treacherous. Language was regional and accents would have been strong, although the Cornish language had been effectively side-lined to the far west and south of the region, native dialect still peppered speech with Cornish words and phrases such as Dydh da being used instead of hello. John Bradley (1728–1794) stated during his 1769 Transit of Venus, Board of Longitude funded expedition to Cornwall that he had found himself “in a very odd part of the country.”. (Kennett, 2015:6).

You could assume that living in Cornwall would feel as far removed from learned and high society as you could be, but there were pockets of scientific work, often driven by the need for advancement in the tin mining industry. Far west, one man, Malachy Hitchens (1741–1809) had fostered an early centre of scientific learning influencing a number of careers including; Davis Gilbert (1767–1839), Humphrey Davy (1778–1829) (both subsequently became Presidents of the Royal Society) and William Dunkin (1781–1838) (Father to Edwin Dunkin (1821–1898) future assistant of Astronomer Royal, George Biddell Airy). (Kennett, 2017:53). During the time of Adams’s upbringing Cornwall was becoming renowned for its scientific community and organisations such as the Royal Institute of Cornwall (Truro founded 1818), The Royal Polytechnic (Falmouth founded 1833) and the Royal Geological Society (Penzance founded 1814) were at the forefront of these scientific inquiries. (Naylor, 2002:498). Nineteenth century Cornwall was becoming a site of national scientific importance. (Naylor, 2002:494).

Unfortunately, Adams was far removed from this influential cluster and visiting his birthplace today it is clear that it was not a centre of excellence of scientific learning. The place of his birth was on the edge of Bodmin Moor near the town of Launceston. A description of the eastern moor area of Cornwall within Daphne du Maurier’s famous 1936 novel Jamaica Inn gives a clue to how remote the location of Adams’s birth and formative childhood years was. Described as an area with no trees, houses or roads, the moor was then and still is now, a bleak part of the world in which people can lose themselves. Little has changed to his home since Adam’s childhood, although there has been the addition of an extra wing. The house can be viewed from the road and is located just to the north of the modern A395. In Adams’s day there would be no sound of manmade machinery and no lorries thundering along the A30 trunk road; at night there would be no light pollution to reduce the splendour of the night sky. It was an ideal location for reflection, thinking and developing theories and it was this combination which helped propel Adams to Cambridge, Neptune and beyond (Figs. 3.1 and 3.2).

Fig. 3.1
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Historic view of Lidcott Farm, Laneast Downs, Cornwall, John Couch Adams’s childhood home (Credit: M. Roos (Private Collection), Painter Unknown)

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Fig. 3.2
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Lidcott Farm in modern times, Laneast Downs, Cornwall, John Couch Adams’s childhood home (Credit: John Lyne Photography)

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Within 10 miles of Adams’s childhood home was the town of Launceston. This was the administrative capital of Cornwall until 1835 when the district judge circuit moved it to Bodmin town taking with it the Guildhall and old Goal. Regarded as a “rotten borough” by 1832 it lost one of its two MPs due to the small number of residents being entitled to vote in parliamentary elections, which in turn could leave a significant amount of power sitting with one person or family, making it rotten. A visit to the town by Adams would have found a place in decline. The once glorious and substantial castle, which dominated the town’s skyline, had been left to rot and ruin. Piglets were let to run wild on its slopes and cabbages grown in its interior and it was such a disgrace that by 1842 Queen Victoria had to intervene in its upkeep. (Robbins, 1883:330). The decline in the town was in part due to the mass exodus of the local population. The well-known miner’s exodus from Cornwall started in the 1830s but during the period from the late 1790s the farming community had its own issues leading to mass migration. Competition from imported grain, high rents and poor quality soil would all compound the issue and many tenant farmers were living on the breadline.

His parents, Thomas Adams (1788–1859) and Tabitha (Knill Grylls) (1796–1866) were respectable tenant farmers of Lidcott farm Laneast, a step up from general labourers but still living a seasonal existence when one failed harvest could sink people into poverty. Added to this were periods where Adams’s father took to his bed for extended periods due to “fevers”. (Adams, 1892:11). Improvements in life expectancy meant that families had become larger and had more surviving children putting further pressure on a family budget. Adams’s family followed this pattern and he had a number of brothers and sisters born after him in fairly quick succession: Thomas Adams 28 April 1821–1885, George Adams 5 November 1823–1909, Grace Couch Adams 1 September 1828–1891, Elizabeth Grylls Adams 3 November 1831–1846, William Grylls Adams 16 February 1836–1915 and Mary Ann Adams 28 April 1839–1888 (Harrison , 1994:11). Offspring were having to look elsewhere for their future income, as farming was not a sustainable financial option for all the children. A child with a gift such as Adams’s in mathematics would have been encouraged by the whole family as it offered financial stability for them all. Therefore it is no surprise that his exceptional mathematical ability was nurtured by his parents and siblings alike.

3.2 Schooling of the Young Adams

His early education highlighted his great potential as a thinker. It started modestly with Ann Dawe, who ran a Dame’s school for local children in her farmhouse kitchen. After a short while he was taken on under the wing of Richard C. Sleep who established a school in the village of Laneast and had a mathematical background. One early indication of Adams’s relationship with his teacher and of his character was the ‘Stream incident’. Apparently, the children were bathing in the River Inny at Laneast Bridge one lunchtime and failed to notice the time. Mr. Sleep appeared, cane in hand to chase them back to school. Although Adams could easily have out run the teacher he stopped to “tie his shoe” to allow the others to escape. Adams got on well with Mr. Sleep, they had a love of maths in common, although there were few mathematics books at the school, Adams moved steadily ahead of his teacher, becoming self-taught. (Adams, 1892:13). To achieve this, he used his family’s books and his brother George Adams reminisced about Adams’s love of one particular book saying, “He was constantly at his books, and in his early years Old Moore’s Almanack was a source of great delight.” (Adams, 1892). His Aunt Grace Couch inherited a small estate, Badharlick, but she did not reside there, instead moving in with the family bringing much needed financial support from its rent. She also brought a library containing some books on mathematics and astronomy. These books had originally been owned by Grace’s husband, John Couch, and it is evident that it is from this branch of the family that the interest in science originated.

Another book which would have been a firm favourite was the Bible. Adams was brought up in a deeply religious family. The whole family worshipped at the local Anglican Parish Church in Laneast and also at the Wesleyan Chapel. His father was a leading member for the local Methodist Society at Tregeare but was also a parish warden at the local church. (Ibid, 1892:12). This dual faith was not unusual in Cornwall, where Methodism had taken a firm hold since John Wesley’s visits in the 1750s. One of the core values of Methodism is education and Adams would have certainly been encouraged to attain his full potential through Methodist preaching. His Anglican faith allowed him admittance into Cambridge, where dissenters were not accepted as fellows until 1856. (Vernon, 2004:14). The family’s religious habits ingrained from an early age, helped equip Adams for life at Cambridge University and its routines surrounding chapel attendance.

By the age of ten Adam’s abilities in mathematics were starting to be recognised wider afield. During a visit to a family friend, John Pearse of Hatherleigh, he impressed a number of esteemed dinner guests with his talent. The following account of the visit was given by Pearse’s son also John Pearse, a banker and solicitor, who met Adams during the visit in the late 1820s.

My father had some knowledge of Algebra and on questioning the boy considered him a prodigy. He [John Couch Adams] was invited to spend a few days at Hatherleigh and we three boys walked there together by the short way through the fields. My father invited them to spend an evening at his house, Mr. W C Morris was a neighbouring squire who had received a university education, his friend Mr. Fisher the surgeon and a schoolmaster named Jay, who had taken on Mr. Roberts’ school.

Before this triumvirate my father trotted out the wonderful boy in Algebra. The boy and the schoolmaster did not arrive at the same result. The schoolmaster’s work was set before the boy who showed that he was wrong, and where the error was but all in quiet and modest way. The examination of the young mathematician concluded the gentlemen got into an argument on some subject. My brother proposed some amusement for his guest but he was taken up with the argument and said “Stop, let us hear them come to the point.” (Pearse, c1860)

One sum that was solved on the evening was: What sum of money when divided by 2 the numbers are reversed. The correct answer is £13. 6/- (13/2- = £6 with 20/- over). Therefore 26/- divided by 2 = 13. So half £13.6/- is £6. 13/- ! apparently the teacher got it wrong but Adams solved it quickly. (Sheen, 2013)

Even at this early stage in Adams’s life it seems that his father realised his destiny did not lay in farming, as during the visit to Pearse’s “Mr Adams told my father that he feared his son would never be fit for a farmer, he was too fond of his books and that he was studying Algebra.” (Pearse, c1860). Pearse agreed saying “If he was my boy, I would sell my hat off my head rather than not send him to college.” (Adams, 1892:15).

Adams had really impressed Pearse during his short stay not only with his unusual maths abilities but also with his inquisitive nature and as the following extract shows was to leave with the gift of more precious scientific books to add to his well-thumbed collection. (Pearse, c1860)

At my father’s house John Couch Adams saw a pair of globes for the first time in his life and while he was there these globes and a book on the use of the globes were his favourite amusement. On his leaving, my father presented him with a book on the use of the globes, two volumes on “the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties” then just published by the Useful Knowledge Society and some other books all of which Professor Adams recently told my father he still retains.

When the time came for secondary school it was decided that rather than send him to the local Horwell Endowed Boys school in Launceston he would attend his cousin’s school in Plymouth. The Rev. John Couch Grylls (c1793–1854) ran his establishment at Devonport and this meant that Adams had to lodge away from home for extended periods. During this time, he wrote numerous letters to his parents and his siblings and it was within these that we can glean a sense of how he spent his time. One place he was particularly attracted to visiting was the Mechanics Institute and its extensive library. The Mechanics Institute in Devonport was set up in 1825. During the 1820s a minority of children attended school full time and many only to learn the basics in reading and arithmetic, the ethos of the countrywide Mechanics Institute was to provide technical and advanced education to a wide section of the population. The Devonport branch had a membership in excess of 1,000 and members benefited from the large library and a reading room with all the local and national papers. Science lectures were presented and later arts classes were started. (Moseley, B. 2016). It was a breeding ground for scientific and intellectual thought. Clearly such an Institute must have acted like a magnet to the young Adams and studying there would have been a good precursor to Cambridge life (Fig. 3.3).

Fig. 3.3
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Example of mathematical work undertaken while at School in Devonport. (Credit: Papers of John Couch Adams, Adams Box, 23/16/7. By permission of the Master and Fellows of St John’s College, Cambridge)

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3.3 Adams the Young Astronomer

In common with Adams’s maths interest his early interest in astronomy was sustained by the small collection of family books. These 18th century books became Adams’s early companions. It was certainly unusual for one so young to be able to read such volumes, often in Latin. One book in the collection was James Ferguson’s (1710–1776) Astronomy explained upon Sir Isaac Newton’s principles , which had been a firm favourite of William Herschel At times the collection was added to, such as in 1834 when he won as a school prize a copy of John Herschel’s Astronomy. This copy is now believed to be the one on display in the St Lawrence House Museum, Launceston.

As well as books it seems that Adams had an interest in the more practical side of astronomy. Although his father could not understand why he chose to remain out so long, Adams would spend many hours of his time on the moor, learning the various constellations and watching the planets moving amongst them. It is believed that he would lean against the old Cornish Cross that still overlooks the farm. This Cross is not made from local granite moor stone but from Polyphant stone (a type of Greenstone) which is distinctive in colour and been utilised for different artefacts since the earliest of times (Fig. 3.4).

Fig. 3.4
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The Cornish Cross on the moor which Adams would lean against to watch the stars (Credit: Carolyn Kennett)

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As his observational knowledge of the stars grew, he was able at the age of thirteen in 1833 to draw an excellent map of the Solar System. He drew an outer ring of symbols representing the constellations of the plane of the ecliptic (signs of the zodiac) and numbered the days in the month. The outermost planet had two names at that time, Adams labelled the planet “Herschel” after discoverer William Herschel instead of the name “Georgium Sidus” which was being used at that time in the UK. Part of the drawing illustrates the inclination of the planets to the plane of the ecliptic, including asteroids such as Pallas , Ceres and Vesta (Fig. 3.5).

Fig. 3.5
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John Couch Adams’ diagram of the Solar System drawn when he was 13 years old (Credit: John Couch Adams, 30 January 1833, Papers of John Couch Adams, Adams/Box, 23/2/1-6. By permission of the Master and Fellows of St John’s College, Cambridge)

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His practical skills were also prevalent when he made a simple marine astrolabe. While continuing to experiment with this he also made lines or notches on the windowsill at Lidcott to mark the altitude of the Sun at noon (Clerke, 1901). Unfortunately, the notches cannot be identified today as the sill was removed when the farmhouse was extended.

During the autumn of 1835 while residing in Devonport, Adams was on the lookout for Halley’s comet . This famous comet was spotted during its 19th century apparition in August from Rome. He wrote to his parents on the 17 Oct 1835 about this exciting astronomical once-in-a-lifetime event saying “No doubt you have long before this, discovered the comet. We stayed up a night about 3 weeks ago, in order to discover it, but in vain, and lately neglecting to watch for it, we did not see it till Wednesday night last, when and last night it appeared very plainly.” (JCA to Parents, 17 Oct 1835: AM). He continued to deliberate on the scientific value of the comet’s passing saying “You may conceive with what pleasure I viewed this, the first comet I had ever had a sight, which at its visit 380 years ago threw all Europe into consternation, but which now, affords the highest pleasure to astronomers by proving the accuracy of their calculations and predictions.” (Ibid, 1835).

His observations the following year offered another inspiring observational opportunity on 15 May 1836 when there was to be an annular eclipse and his excitement about the forthcoming event is evident in the letter he wrote to his brother Thomas, on the 13 May. (JCA to Thomas, 13 May 1836: AM).

I now take my pen to give you a brief description of the large eclipse of the Sun which will take place next Sunday. Eclipses of the Sun, you are aware, only happen at the time of New Moon or at the conjunction of these luminaries and are caused by the Moon being interposed between us and the Sun, and therefore cutting off a part or whole of its light. The visibility of these eclipses depends on many circumstances, and therefore solar eclipses are very rarely visible at a given place. There has not been so large an eclipse as the present visible in England for many years, nor I believe will there be for years to come.

Adams understood not only the fact that this was annular although almost total at 95% coverage and that different parts of the UK would have a different view. He had possibly read about these ideas in either of his favoured books by James Ferguson and John Herschel. (JCA to Thomas, 13 May 1836: AM).

To proceed to that of Sunday, the Sun and the Moon vary their distances from the Earth, and consequently, their apparent sizes vary also. At this time the diameter of the Sun exceeds that of the Moon, and consequently the Moon cannot cover the whole of the Sun’s disc and there will be no total eclipse. For different places, appearances vary, for the Moon being much nearer to us than the Sun, if it appears at one place to cover it, at another it may be so much out of the line. It is evident that to an observer at E, the Moon will appear directly on the Sun, but to one at L [Lidcott] it appears in a different direction and does not touch it at all. So at Edinburgh this eclipse will be annular, that is the Moon will be directly placed on the Sun. At London the eclipse will be large, but not annular, and at this place it will be rather smaller still.

He continues by calculating the time of the eclipse for his family at their home in Lidcott compared to that London. In doing this he demonstrated that he realised Cornwall was 5° west of Greenwich and that translated into the 20 minute time lag. Furthermore the “4 minutes later” means that he also understood the equation of time accurately.

As the almanacs only give the time etc. to this eclipse for London and some other remarkable places I have taken some pains to calculate it and herewith send you what I believe has not been done for some time, a calculation of this eclipse for the meridian and latitude for Litcott. This differs about 20 minutes from the time at London, and also consequently the size of it. The following is the result of my computations. The eclipse begins 15th 1 hour 28 minutes after noon. Greatest eclipse 3 hours 0 minutes. Ends 4 hours 22 minutes. Digits eclipsed 10d. The following type (see drawing) will represent it very nearly. The shaded circle represents the Moon the lighter one the Sun, at the greatest eclipse, there will only be the light part visible, the eclipse begins at the place marked “begins” about 129.5 degrees from the vertical, top marked v of the Sun towards the west, and ends at about 21.5 degrees from the vertical towards the east, the whole circle being 360 degrees. The time I have given above is mean or clock time at Litcott, the time by the sundial will be 4 minutes later.

This is impressive as Adams was only 17 at the time and basically self-taught in astronomy. With a flourish, Adams signs off the letter with further astronomical instructions “next Thursday evening between 6 and 7 o’clock a remarkable conjunction of the Moon and the planets Jupiter and Venus, which I wish you would observe. These planets are now approaching each other and will then be very near each other also with the Moon.” (JCA to Thomas, 13 May 1836: AM) (Fig. 3.6).

Fig. 3.6
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Adams’s letter to his brother Thomas on the 13 May 1836. Showing the diagram of the annular eclipse (Credit: Cornwall Records Office DD AM248)

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Scientifically significant, this type of eclipse features a flash of bright lights that surround the edge of the Moon just as it is covering the solar disc, due to mountains and valleys on the lunar surface which break up the sunlight emitting from the edge of the Sun. Unlike a total eclipse the Moon is at apogee and too small to completely cover the solar disc, so this effect only occurs at the leading and trailing edges of the Moon as it moves across the Sun. Francis Baily (1774–1844) vice-president of the Royal Astronomical Society had read about this “remarkable phenomenon” and decided to see it for himself. He calculated that the best place would be Jedburgh in Scotland as this was in the area of maximum coverage of the Moon over the Sun, at 95%, and he set up his observatory there. His description of a “string of beads” resonated with astronomers and henceforth the term Baily’s beads entered the eclipse vocabulary. (Baily, 1836:15).

The following year Adams had the chance to observe an impressive lunar eclipse on 20 April 1837. Totality was in the evening and lasted one-hour forty minutes. As an evening event it was perfect to catch a large number of observers. Adams was requested by Mr. Bate, a reporter for the Devonport Telegraph, to write an article for the paper. Titled “The Grand Lunar Eclipse”, it appeared in the 29 April edition and Mr. Richards, the Editor of the Devonport Telegraph told Adams that his article had been copied into several London papers. (JCA to Parents, 24 Apr 1837a: AM).

By this time Adams was starting to complain that his eyes were not good enough to observe certain events. He wrote to his father asking if some eye water could be brought to him (JCA to Parents, 3 Jun 1837b: AM). During the following week, on 25 April, he watched the planet Mars very near the Moon as it was about to be occulted. He worried that his eyesight had let him down and that he had missed observing the event. (JCA to Parents, 24 Apr 1837a: AM). It is interesting to note that his concerns were possibly unfounded as the Moon, five days after full was so bright that no one could see an occultation without using magnification such as binoculars. He was fully aware that his eyesight was not as good as others around him and when Adams was appointed Director of the Cambridge Observatory it was on the understanding that he did not have to do any actual observing. During his trip to observe the Norway Eclipse when in 1851 he downplayed his observational abilities stating, “Not that I had much hope of being able to add anything of scientific importance to the accounts of the many experienced astronomers who were preparing to observe it.” (Adams, 1851:101). His vision did not stop his interest in the practical side of astronomy and he continued to observe throughout his life. What was clear is that he had made a decision his career would not be in observational astronomy, but would lie instead within the realms of mathematics, at which he excelled.

3.4 Preparations for University

It had long been the family ambition that Adams would attend University and the family started to make inquiries about Adams attending Cambridge University. While in Devonport his uncle Mr. Grylls approached an acquaintance, Mr. Jarrent, to talk about Adams’s options. Adams wrote home to his parents saying “He does not recommend me to enter as a Sizar but thinks it would be better for me to go as a Pensioner, to one of the small colleges. It need not exceed 60 pounds a year, and if I could obtain a scholarship, as he himself did the first year he was there, the expense would be materially lessened.” (JCA to Parents, 28 Oct 1937:AM). Like many families today, they were starting to weigh up the cost and benefits of sending a child into higher education. Soon after this advice was given in early 1838 Adams returned home, as the Grylls were emigrating to Australia. Once home the family’s landlord Mr. John King Lethbridge (1789–1861) introduced Adams to the curate of Lamerton, Tavistock, George Martyn (1815–1882) [sometimes Martin], who had recently attended Cambridge. Adams was tutored and encouraged by him to prepare for entrance examinations at St John’s College, Cambridge. (Adams, 1892:18). Private tuition from Martyn would not have been cheap and the family were already starting to incur costs related to his further education. It cannot be overstated how instrumental Martyn’s coaching was in preparing Adams for the entrance examinations at Cambridge.

A contemporary, future friend and 1840s Cambridge entrant George G. Stokes (1819–1903) was fortunate to receive his pre-Cambridge preparatory education in a formal (and expensive) situation at Bristol College, under the oversee of Principal Jospeh Henry Jerrard (1801–1853), who had previously been a Cambridge graduate. Stokes was expected to learn “differential and integral calculus, statics, dynamics, hydrostatics, optics, conic sections, spherical trigonometry, physical astronomy and the first book of Newton’s Principia .” (Warwick, 2003:87). Stokes spent two years being educated within these topics in the build-up to the critical Cambridge University entrance examinations. Another contemporary of Adams and Cambridge entrant, James Joseph Sylvester (1814–1897), was also educated in a formal setting at the Royal Institution School in Liverpool. The school would emulate the curriculum at Cambridge preparing the students for entry into either of the Oxbridge universities. Sylvester’s tutor Thomas Williamson Peile (1806–1882) was an excellent classicist as well achieving 18th wrangler in mathematics when he had sat the Tripos at Cambridge. The students spent five hours in mathematical lessons, while English, geography and history were each taught for one hour a week, while the rest of the full timetable was spent learning the classics. (Parshall, 2006:22). This is the teaching role that Martyn undertook with Adams from early 1838. In comparison to Stokes’s and Sylvester’s full time and more lavish education, Adams was at a disadvantage. That he still went on to excel speaks volumes about his mathematical talents. Adams received Martyn’s tutorship for an extended period as he was residing at home from early 1838 until he left for Cambridge in the autumn of 1839.

Going to University was a very expensive business and Adams’s costs absorbed every penny that could be earned by the whole family. (The costs at University will be explored in more detail within Chap. 4, but were initially £35 a term, or half a year’s wages for a skilled tradesman, taken from the UK’s National Archives currency converter). As already stated, his father Thomas was not a well man and he spent a considerable period each year nursing his illness, which at times meant limited resources would be created from the farm itself. The finances needed had to be found from other avenues and Adams had to limit his outgoings by returning home to Cornwall only during the long vacations. By his final year the family had to resort to borrowing money to fund his education. (Adams, 1892:19).

Life as a tenant farmer in north Cornwall in the early part of the 19th century was very hard, because of the heavy labour and low prices of produce. However, the Adams family were able to derive additional income from the Badharlick Estate, Badharlick had been bequeathed to Grace Grylls (Adams’s great-aunt) in 1790 after the death of her companion Ann Trewbody. Adams’s mother Tabitha had spent her formative years living with her aunt Grace until her marriage in 1818 to Thomas. When Grace Grylls’s husband died, she went to live at Lidcott, with Adams’s family until her own death in 1836 at the age of 90. By her Will of that year (1836) she left Badharlick to Tabitha and after her to her eldest son John Couch Adams. Consisting of about 100 acres of good pasture, the rent was insignificant as it only amounted to an annuity of £5 while a family relative John Grylls (Grace’s nephew and John Couch Adams’s uncle) was the tenant. (Will of Grace Couch, 26 Jun 1820:AM). Nevertheless, it was in part sufficient to ensure that Adams went to Cambridge but in turn this meant that the other members of the family had to give up the benefits of this additional income and there would be “great difficulty from the resources of the farm to pay for his college bills.” (Adams, 1892:18).

Another revenue steam which went towards meeting the costs of sending Adams to Cambridge was that of the sale of manganese ore extracted from a small mine located on Lidcott Farm. Although the standard story as told implies that manganese was found at Lidcott just in time to provide an income for Adams, the truth is that it had been worked intermittently and a good while before Adams needed it. The mine was certainly active for an unknown period prior to 1827 when the lease was formerly granted to Thomas Adams’s landlord Lethbridge for a cost of 12/− per ton (English, 1826). What is of interest is that Lethbridge acted like a progressive landlord in that he allowed the Adams family to make profit from the mine in what was essentially on his land. A tenant’s right to farm the surface of the land did not extend to the right to extract minerals from below ground. The mineral rights belonged to the ‘lord of the manor’ and so of course did the profits from the sale of the minerals. At times the mine was not as profitable as one may expect and the local geologist Henry S. Boase (1799–1883) who observed it noted in 1830 that “Laneast Downs is an interesting area to both the geologist and the miner, to the later principally on account of its numerous deposits of manganese ore.” Many of these he wrote, “have been very productive but as far as I could learn the remuneration to the adventurers must be inconsiderable in consequence of the low price of this article and the heavy expense of land carriage over a bad and hilly road.” (Boase, 1832:233). The mine would certainly not be making the family rich (Fig. 3.7).

Fig. 3.7
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The opening to the manganese mine at Lidcott Farm, Laneast Downs, Cornwall, where Adams’s family would extract the resource to help fund his university education (Credit: Carolyn Kennett)

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Finally, Adams would have to take on some of the responsibility for the expense of university himself and he did this through teaching. Naturally he was able to charge for his lessons and thus it helped to defray his university expenses. He was a respected teacher who had initially taught his younger siblings and later on the children of his neighbours. During his time in Devonport he also taught the two sons of Admiral Hornby. (Adams, 1892:16). This experience of meeting people of different social levels would have helped Adams with his future integration at Cambridge University. One particular family, the Foot family, were so impressed that they tried to persuade him to emigrate to Australia with them as a private tutor for their children, but by this time he had met Martyn and the decision had been made for him to go and sit the scholarship examination at St John’s College. (Adams, 1892:19).

At that time St John’s was considered a “stronghold of mathematical learning,” (Parshall 2006:29), with Trinity being the better college to attend for learning the classics. From 1824 to 1845 St John’s could boast nineteen senior or second wranglers in mathematics, compared to Trinity’s twelve. (Ibid, 2013:29). For the most ambitious mathematical students St John’s was the college to attend. With Martyn’s expertise and encouragement Adams was able to dream about the heights of academic success that he could achieve. It is very likely that he started to consider reaching the highest honours attainable, that of Senior Wrangler.

Adams never lost the sense of duty to his family. The appreciation of the monetary support he had received from them must have driven him on to succeed during the coming years, as he felt the need to repay his family. In part his Methodist upbringing helped in his careful management of money, as Methodists are taught to spend money on the necessities in life and not on superfluities. In 1843 he wrote to his brother Thomas,

I beg you will listen to what I am going to propose. I feel I should ill fulfil the purposes for which God has raised me to my present position if I did not endeavour to extend to the rest of my family some portion of the advantages which have been so beautifully bestowed on myself. I am anxious therefore, in the first place to give you and George an opportunity for study and improvement which you have furtherto been without…. (JCA to brother Thomas, 11 May 1843:AM).

He would pay for their lodgings and education at a school in Devonport. The financial support Adams gave meant he was able to help his brothers succeed within their field of choice. William Grylls Adams (1836–1915) became an 11th Wrangler and the professor of Natural Philosophy at Kings College, London and an FRS, Thomas a much travelled missionary and official for the Wesleyan-Methodist Missionary Society, while George became a farmer. When Adams’s father Thomas died in 1859, Tabitha gave up the tenancy of Lidcott and moved back to Badharlick, only a short distance away, and stayed there until her death in 1866. Adams had saved enough money to refurbish the house throughout before his mother moved back in. On her death the Badharlick Estate was passed to his brother William Grylls Adams, with Adams’s good wishes, who had been originally in line to inherit it. By the time of his death Adams had accrued a small fortune, which amounted to £32,433 12s. 8d, probate, 2 March 1892. (Hutchins, 2004). This amounts to over 2.6 million pounds in today’s money.

During October 1839 Adams set out on his first journey to St Johns College. He had never travelled past Exeter (80km away) and his whole family “went with him to see him on the coach, in the middle of the night in Laneast Downs,” (Adams, 1892:18) where a number of prayers were offered for his safe travels. The journey on the coach called The Traveller was slow, long and very tiresome, taking two days and a whole night before reaching Cambridge. (Ibid, 1892:18). No doubt Adams’s years in Devonport, away from home, helped him cope with the distance from his family and he was already used to living apart from family members, so this move would not have been a complete shock. His frequent contact with home through letters meant he did not suffer any ongoing homesickness. He became involved with college life right from the start and his transition from Cornwall to Cambridge life was smooth. Buoyed by a lifetime of praise over his mathematical abilities, from both preceptors and contemporaries alike, his confidence in his own abilities was high and on arrival he sat his scholarship examination in which he excelled. This is a pattern which would continue during his time at Cambridge University, where his determination and competitive spirit would see him reach for the stars.