Adair, Robert Shafto, 1st baronet (1786 -1869)

Robert Shafto Adair was the son of William Adair and Camilla Shafto. He was educated at Harrow School, and Jesus College, Cambridge where he was admitted as a Fellow-Commoner, in 1804. He was created a baronet on 2 August 1838, and High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1846. In 1844 he moved into his ancestral home of Flixton Hall near Bungay in Suffolk. In 1846 the Hall was severely damaged by fire, and during the following decades the architect Anthony Salvin was employed to rebuild Flixton Hall. Sir Robert Shafto Adair married firstly, 17 September 1810, Eliza Maria (d. 1853), daughter of Rev. James Strode of Berkhampstead, and secondly, 3 October 1854, Jane Anne (1814-1873), eldest daughter of the Rev. Townley Clarkson, vicar of Hinxton. They had two children. In 1950 the massive library and the fine contents of Flixton Hall were offered for sale, and two years later in 1952 the Hall was finally demolished.