James Makittrick Adair

James Makittrick Adair was the son of James Makittrick who took the name Adair in 1783 and became known as James Makittrick Adair (1728-1801). His father was a well-known physician in the UK and continental Europe and his medical writings were translated and consulted frequently. Adair travelled to the Caribbean, relocating to Antigua before returning to the UK. Adair studied medicine in Edinburgh, graduating in 1789 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1793. He was friends with the poet Robert Burns having been introduced by Dr George Lawrie. Adair accompanied Burns on his tour of Stirlingshire in 1787 during which he met his future wife, Charlotte Hamilton (1763-1806) and they were married on 11 November 1789. Adair died in Harrogate in 1802 and he was buried in the same grave as his father. In 1790, Adair wrote an anti-abolition pamphlet, arguing that the slave trade, as a paternalist system, was good for enslaved people.