Died 1940, Abergwili, United Kingdom | ||
Alice Abadam (2 January 1856 – 1940) was a Welsh suffragette and public speaker.
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Early life
Abadam was born in London in 1856 to Edward Ab Adam and his wife Louisa (nee Taylor). Her father was the eldest son of Edward Hamlin Adams, a Jamaican-born banker and merchant who made his money overseas before settling in Britain. In 1825 Edward Hamlin Adams bought Middleton Hall in Carmarthanshire following the death of its owner, Sir William Paxton. The Hall was passed down to his son Edward, who added the old Welsh patronym, Ab, to the family name.
Abadam, by her own account, had a happy childhood and was educated by a governess at Middleton Hall. She was the youngest of seven children, and saw little of her mother who suffered ill-health brought about by post-natal depression. By 1861 her mother was living away from the family in Brighton, and in 1871 was living back at her paternal home in Dorset. Despite living apart, her parents remained married until the death of Edward in 1875. Despite her father being an strict anti-clerical views, Abadam converted to Catholicism in 1880 and a musical upbringing led her to becoming the organist and choir master at St Mary's Church on Union Street in the heart of Carmarthen.
Work as a suffragette
In 1905 Abadam subscribed to the Central Society for Women's Suffrage. She became a well known speaker on many social issues and addressed a variety of suffrage societies.