John Adair

Who was John Adair?

John Frederick Adair was an Irish physicist and cricketer who played first class cricket for Cambridge University in 1875.

Adair was born at St Stephen's Green, Dublin, the son of John Adair, lawyer of Dublin. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin being scholar in 1871 and being awarded BA in 1873. He played cricket for his university between 1870 and 1874. In 1874 he was admitted at Pembroke College, Cambridge and while at Cambridge played one cricket match for Cambridge University and one against the University for an England XI led by WG Grace. He was a scholar at Cambridge and was awarded BA at Cambridge in1878. He was an assistant master at Derby School from 1877 to 1879 and in that time played one cricket match for Derbyshire against their Colts. He also played for I Zingari. He became a Fellow of Pembroke College, and in 1881 was admitted to Inner Temple. In 1883 played cricket for Ireland.

Adair played 2 innings in two first class matches with an average of 31.00 and a top score of 17. He was an occasional wicket-keeper.

Adair went to Australia where he was a physics demonstrator at the University of Sydney and was later professor.