- Colonel of regiment of foot soldiers at the Battle of the Boyne (1690)
- Knighted after battle by King William III of England
Biography
Colonel Robert Adair was born 9 February 1659 in Ballymena Castle, Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland to William Adair (1624-1661) and died 7 February 1745 County Down, Northern Ireland of unspecified causes. He married Penelope Coleville (1654-1695) 1679 in Northern Ireland. He married Martha N.N. (c1660-) 1698 in Northern Ireland. He married Anne McAuley (c1660-) 1705 in Northern Ireland. He married Annabella Ricketts (c1660-) 1720 in Northern Ireland.
Robert inherited both the Kilhilt Estate (Scotland) and Ballymena Estate (Ireland) from his father. He raised a regiment of foot for King William III.1 He lived at Ballymena, County Antrim, IrelandG.1 He lived at Kinhilt, Wigtownshire, ScotlandG.1
Kilhilt Tower
Kilhilt was the name of the Adair Family castle / manor home that stood in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries in the village of Portpatrick, County of Wigtownshire, Scotland. Nothing remains of the site today. Portpatrick sits on the southwest cost of Scotland and on a clear day you can see Ireland only 21 miles west. In the 17th century, much of the Adair Family moved to County Antrim in Ireland as part of the Ulster Plantation.
- See Also Kilhilt Castle - Stravaiging.com
Ballymena Castle built circa 1640, became a centre for the Irish estates of Adair, and thereafter the family was increasingly based in northern Ireland, although the remainder of the Kinhilt estate (Scotland) was retained until 1736, when it was sold to the 2nd Earl of Stair by Col. Sir Robert Adair (1659-1745).
Ballymena Castle
From a postcard of the early 20th Century.
Ballymena Castle was a large estate located in the village of Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The land was first given to the Adair family by King Charles I in 1626, with a right to hold two annual fairs and a free Saturday market in perpetuity. As of 2018, the Saturday market still runs.
The Adairs were active in helping Scotch settlers settle the "Ulster Plantation" in Northern Ireland. In the 1600s Sir Robert Adair (d. 1655) built Ballymena Castle as a centre for their Irish estates. But a great portion of the Adair Family continued at their main residence in Kilhilt Tower in Wigtownshire, Scotland. For time Ballymena was renamed "Kinhiltshire".
In 1865, one of the key descendants, Robert Alexander Shafto Adair (2nd Baronet Adair) made extensive modifications to the castle. But in the 20th century, the placed was little used, becoming victim to vandalism and arson before being sold and demolished in 1957. The Adairs sold much of the surrounding landholdings to their tenants.
1690 Battle of the Boyne
The Battle of the Boyne (01-Jul-1690) was a battle between the forces of the deposed King James II of England and Ireland, VII of Scotland, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and James's daughter), had acceded to the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1689. The battle took place across the River Boyne close to the town of Drogheda in the Kingdom of Ireland, modern-day Republic of Ireland, and resulted in a victory for William. This turned the tide in James's failed attempt to regain the British crown and ultimately aided in ensuring the continued Protestant ascendancy in Ireland.[1]
The battle took place on 1 July 1690 O.S. William's forces defeated James's army, which consisted mostly of raw recruits. Although the Williamite War in Ireland continued until the signing of the Treaty of Limerick in October 1691, James fled to France after the Boyne, never to return.
Marriage and Family
Col. Sir Robert Adair (1659-1745) of Ballymena and Kinhilt, knight. Only son of William Adair (d. 1661) and his wife Anne Helena, daughter of Col. Walter Scott of Hartwoodburn; born February 1659. He raised a regiment for King William III and was knighted at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. He married first Penelope, daughter of Sir Robert Colville of Newtown (Antrim), second, Martha (d. 1705; bur. at Dublin); third, 1705, Anne; and fourth, 1720, Arabella Ricketts (d. 1742); and had issue:
- Capt. William Robert Adair (d. 1762) (q.v.);
- Anna Helena Adair (d. young, 1701); buried at St Bride, Dublin, 15 May 1701;
- Alexander Adair (b. 1720) He inherited the Ballymena and Kinhilt estates from his father in 1661 at the age of 2. He sold the remaining Kinhilt lands c.1736 to the 2nd Earl of Stair. Ballymena Castle was destroyed by fire in 1740. He died in Dublin, 9 February 1745, aged 86.
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| William Robert Adair (1690-1762) | 1690 Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom | 19 April 1762 Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom | Catherine Smallman (1701-1752) |
| Robert Adair (1690-1762) | |||
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Anna Helena Adair (1700-1701) | |||
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Alexander Adair (1720-1797) | |||
Siblings
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Robert Adair (1659-1745) | 9 February 1659 Ballymena Castle, Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland | 7 February 1745 County Down, Northern Ireland | Penelope Coleville (1654-1695) Martha N.N. (c1660-) Anne McAuley (c1660-) Annabella Ricketts (c1660-) |
Residences
References
- ^ Battle of the Boyne Wikipedia
See Also
- Robert Adair - disambiguation
- Adair Family
- Adair in Wigtownshire
- Adair in County Antrim
- Robert Adair at thePeerage
- Sir Robert Adair of Kilhilt - Geni.com
- Adair of Ballymena Castle and Flixton Hall, Baronets - Landed Families of England Blog.
- Alfred Suckling, The history and antiquities of the county of Suffolk: with genealogical and architectural notices of its several towns and villages (London: n.pub., 1846), page 201.
- Townend, Peter. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 105th edition. London, U.K.: Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1970.
References