His elder brother Henry John Adeane (1833–1870) also served as a Member of Parliament.

[1] Adeane entered the Royal Navy in 1850, and was a midshipman on board HMS Imperieuse in the Baltic Sea during the Crimean War.

Promoted to the rank of vice-admiral on 13 May 1893,[4] and to full admiral on 19 March 1898,[5] he was placed on the Retired List at his own request on 7 December 1901.

[2] He was Chairman of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society and a Member of the Metropolitan Asylums Board.

[7] Adeane died at his residence Jacob's Farm, Sedlescombe, East Sussex, on 18 October 1902.