John Adamson (antiquary)

He was educated at Newcastle Grammar School, and in 1803 went to Lisbon, to work in the office of his elder brother Blythman, a merchant in the city.

While there, he had studied the language and collected a few books, including the tragedy of Dona Ignez de Castro, which he translated and printed in 1808.

[1] In 1836 Adamson printed a catalogue of his Portuguese library entitled Bibliotheca Lusitana, incorporating much bibliographical information.

In 1842, Adamson brought out the first part of a collection entitled Lusitania Illustrata consisting of translations from Portuguese sonnets, with notes on their writers.

[1] For these, Adamson produced an English prose version, which was then turned into verse by Richard Charles Coxe, vicar of Newcastle upon Tyne.

[2] As a reward for his services to Portuguese literature, Maria II, Queen of Portugal, conferred the knighthoods of Christ and of the Tower and Sword on Adamson.