William Davenport Adams (28 December 1851 – 26 July 1904)[1] was an English journalist, drama critic, and author.

He was the son of the prolific author William Henry Davenport Adams, and his wife and two sisters also wrote.

Adams was educated at Merchant Taylors' School[2] in London, The Glasgow Academy, and the University of Edinburgh.

[note 7] The overwork was ascribed to considerable pressure he was under to complete the first volume of A Dictionary of the Drama, which was then in the hands of the binders.

[32] In 1875, the year of his marriage, he was appointed as leader writer and the literary and drama critic for the Glasgow Daily News.

[30][28][24] These articles were essays and sketches of social, descriptive, or a humorous kind, and appeared on the first page of the newspaper.

[34][35] These articles were a famous feature of The Globe,[36] demanded a "facile pen" to produce them on such a wide range of topics.

"[37] More than forty years after publication the Westminster Gazette called it "an extremely useful work", although in need of bringing up to date.

[44] The Bystander noted that Adams had a unique claim to fame in that the book had been advertised at the top of Chatto and Windus's list for a quarter of a century.

The following list of works has been drawn mainly from a search on the Jisc Library Hub Discover website,[note 12] supplemented by searches for confirmation of details or for any missing details at the British Library, WorldCat, and in the British Newspaper Archive.