Capt. Edward Sydney Royston Adams, MC, AMICE
Armament Specialist.
( 1888 – ? )
Lieutenant E S R Adams (HU 112658) Royal Engineers.
Copyright: © IWM (HU 112658).
The birth of Edward Sidney (sic, this forename is found used in alternative spellings) R. Adams was registered in Cosford, Suffolk, during the September quarter of 1888. He was the son of Thomas Edward Adams whose marriage to Sarah Gwinifred Stevens had been recorded at Richmond, Surrey, 6/1882.
During 1897 his father Thomas Edward Adams acquired Whitstable Castle, otherwise known as The Towers, for £3,250. Adams senior added a gatehouse incorporating some living accommodation, but he passed away on 5 April 1902 in Tankerton Towers, Whitstable, Kent. [LINK] The second marriage of the widowed Mrs Adams to Noel Argent Pell came to be registered at Blean, 4/1903.
Edward Sydney Royston Adams was then sent to the King’s School, Canterbury, where he was educated from 1903 to 1905. Subsequently he took up employment which provided ‘workshop experience’.
On 26 December 1912 Edward was awarded a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers apparently as part of the ‘Special Reserve’. Having been mobilised at the outbreak of war, Lieut. E. S. R. Adams was given command of the Experimental Section, RE, [LINK] which originated in a detachment to manufacture hand-grenades organized in October, I914, at St. Omer, by Lieut.-General Sir G. H. Fowke then performing the duties of Engineer-in-Chief. Supported by Serjeant Griffin, R.E., with a party of N.C.O.’s and Sappers, they never failed to invent and manufacture at the shortest notice any device required by the General Staff. The unit developed and investigated the improvement of service stores and conducted trials of inventions submitted. Mortars were constructed in a small paper mill, and hand grenades improvised from jam tins, to supplement supplies to Field Companies.
Edward Sidney Royston Adams also became an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1915. Captain E S R Adams, RE, was awarded a Military Cross in the King’s Birthday Honours of 1916, and subsequently was mentioned in despatches for a second time.
In March 1917, following establishment of a new Ministry of Munitions during June 1915, Experimental Officer Adams was ordered to join the London Design Branch of that Department.
The marriage of Edward to Fanny Heathcote Annie Beal came to be registered at St Martins, 3/1918.
On 12 July 1922 E S R Adams was granted a patent in respect of ‘improvements in small-arms and machine guns of the kind in which the opening and closing of the breech for effecting the ejection and feeding of the -6 cartridges is automatically obtained by the discharge of the gases of combustion directly from the firing or cartridge chamber ‘.
He resigned his commission from 11 November 1922 but was allowed to retain his rank of Captain. The birth of Pamela G[wynfred] Adams, mother nee Beal, was registered in Dartford, 12/1922.
E S R Adams is reported to have been working in the Air Ministry by 1924, apparently in a civilian capacity.
In 1933, the family resided on the Driftway, Epsom, Surrey but by 1936 had moved to 10 Higher Green, Ewell. When his mother died on 12 June in that year, at Brighton, probate was granted to Noel Argent Pell, no occupation, and Edward Sydney Royston Adams, civil servant.
The 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers Gas-Operated Mk1 No.1 ( otherwise known as Browning/Colt MG 40) machine gun was designated by the Royal Air Force as Class K. It was was then taken to the 1935 RAF trials, and was given a very favourable report for aircraft use by the two principal armament experts at Martlesham Heath, Major H.S.V. Thompson and Captain E.S.R. Adams.
When a 20 mm Hispano Suiza cannon was identified as a possible standard weapon for RAF fighters the Air Staff realised that it would have to be manufactured in the UK. The Hispano-Suiza company eventually agreed to form a British subsidiary company to manufacture the gun in England. The first guns were proof-fired in January 1938 but the return spring was prone to breakage, the extractor spring had a very short life, and the breech-locking system needed re-designing. Whilst these problems were being investigated at the Chatellerault works of Hispano-Suiza, Captain E.S.R. Adams, Senior Technical Officer of the Directorate of Armament Development, and experts from BSA investigated all aspects of the project to recognise that it would be very difficult to manufacture the gun at a normal engineering works. A team was established to produce British drawings and simplify the manufacturing process leading to close co-operation between Captain Adams and Hispano engineers. It is claimed that Capt. E. S. R. Adams had escaped from France the day before it fell with drawings of the modified Hispano Suiza 20 mm cannon.
British development of the Hispano was led by Capt. Adams until the end of 1941. Initially, the Spitfire had been armed with eight Colt-Browning machine guns chambered for 303 ammunition but the Mk V Spitfire traded two machine guns for a pair of Hispano 20 mm cannons, also in the wings. In early 1943 installation of a 57 mm (6-pdr) Molins No.1 Gun was proposed for Mosquitos and approved by Capt. Adams who had risen to become Head of Department.
During 1947 an engagement was announced between Lieut. Hedley Thompson Atkinson, R.N.V.R., son of Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Atkinson, of Littlehurst, Sunny Bank, Epsom, and Pamela Gwynfred, only daughter of Capt. E. S. R. Adams, M.C., and Mrs. Adams, of Pendeen, Higher Green, Ewell.
E S R Adam’s name remained in the Civil Service List up to 1950 at least.
The death of Fanny H A Adams , aged 74, occurred on 19 October 1964 at 17 Yew Tree Gardens, Epsom. [Reg. Surrey Mid. E. 12/1964] Probate was granted to Pamela Gwynfred Atkinson, her daughter, suggesting she had been widowed. [Effects £7494]
However no record of the passing of Capt E S R Adams, an unsung hero, has been traced. His son in law, Hedley Thompson Atkinson died at Vue des Arbres Maison Compte Vale, Guernsey, on 14 January 1993 and Adams himself could have expired abroad.
Brian Bouchard 2022
Footnote: Information provided by Jaroslaw Dabrowski.
The 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers Gas-Operated Mk.1 No.1 machine gun was designated by the Royal Air Force as Class K. Captain Adams modified next RAF machine gun – the Browning MG 40/2, and this was designated by the Royal Air Force as .303 Browning machine gun; a standard for Hurricane and Spitfire fighters.
Source:
Clarke R.W.; British aircraft armament. Volume 1: RAF gun turrets from 1914 to the present day; Patrick Stephens Ltd / Butler & Tanner Ltd, Frome and London 1993
Clarke R.W.; British Aircraft Armament. Volume 2: RAF Guns and Gunsights from 1914 to the Present Day; Patrick Stephens Ltd, Sparkford, Somerset 1994.
Jaroslaw Dabrowski March 2026