[1] He was an Ulster Unionist member of Belfast City Council from 1989, becoming that party's first honorary historian, until his retirement from active politics in 2011.
[3] On 18 July 1978, he was accepted as a Member of the International Medical Association of Lourdes for services to the disabled children and young people of the Falls parish in Belfast.
[citation needed] In 1989, he became founder Chairman of the Somme Association based at Craigavon House, Circular Road, Belfast, under the auspices of Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester; he also established the Somme Heritage Centre, now Museum, at Conlig, in 1994.
Vice-President of the Somme Association, Adamson was a member of the boards of many other local public sector and voluntary civic organisations.
Based in Newtownabbey they slowly evolved from the peace process as a vehicle for working class loyalists in County Antrim, many of whom were ex-combatants, to engage in the transformation of their communities after the troubles.
[7] After Adamson's death on 9 January 2019, his funeral was attended by President of Ireland Michael D Higgins, whom he described as a friend.
[11][12] Prof. Stephen Howe of the University of Bristol argues it was designed to provide ancient underpinnings for a militantly separate Ulster identity.