Richard Adams
Richard Adams was born on 9 May 1920 in Wash Common, near Newbury, Berkshire, England, the son of Lillian Rosa (Button) and Evelyn George Beadon Adams, a doctor. He attended Horris Hill School from 1926 to 1933, and then Bradfield College from 1933 to 1938. In 1938, he went to Worcester College, Oxford, to read Modern History. In July 1940, Adams was called up to join the British Army. He was posted to the Royal Army Service Corps and was selected for the Airborne Company, where he worked as a brigade liaison. He served in Palestine, Europe and the Far East but saw no direct action against either the Germans or the Japanese.
John J. Adams
Adams was born in Douglastown, New Brunswick (now part of Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada) on September 16, 1848. He emigrated to the United States in 1864, settling in New York City, and worked in a dry-goods firm in New York City until he began studies at Columbia Law School. Adams graduated with a degree in law in 1876 and was admitted to the bar the same year. In addition, he was involved in several businesses, including the Adams Mining Company of Leadville, Colorado, which included his brothers Michael Adams (1845-1899), a member of the Canadian Parliament, and Samuel Adams (1846-1928), a member of the Colorado State Senate.