• Name: Adams, Dr Joseph
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: Not Before: 1755 - Not After: 1757
• Death Date: 20  June  1818
• Occupation: physician

Adams was educated in London and worked as an apothecary there before moving to Madeira in 1796 for eight years. On his return to London, he worked at various hospitals and published quite extensively. He was president of the Medical Society of London and the London Philosophical Society, and a fellow of the Linnean Society.

He seems to be the most likely candidate for the majority of references to Adams, though clearly it is a common name and therefore difficult to ascertain a definite identification. The pattern of contacts fits relatively well with Joseph Adams's dates and with the eight year period where he was in Madeira - the couple that don't fit have been taken out accordingly. The two 'Adams' who appear in 1794 seem more likely to be SCI secretary Daniel Adams.

Supporting evidence for the attribution comes from the fact that he appears on 30 December 1810, 23 February 1811, 18 November 1811 and 21 November 1811 in conjunction with Henry Crabb Robinson, and Joseph Adams appears in Robinson's diary around this time. It is also significant that Joseph Adams's obituary in the London Medical Repository Monthly Journal, and Review was written by Godwin's friend and Adams's fellow physician, David Uwins. Additionally, Joseph Adams's friendship with Charles Lamb is documented and the Adams in the diary appears in conjunction with Lamb, eg. 12 September 1810, 30 January 1811.

The DNB mentions that Coleridge was among Adams's patients and Richard Holmes describes how Adams was one of the doctors involved in attempting to treat Coleridge's opium addiction. He dates their first meeting in 1816 (Richard Holmes, Coleridge: Darker Reflections), but Godwin's diary reveals a possible meeting on the 17 February 1811: 'Coleridge, Swartwout & Henry dine; adv. Adams', as well as evidence of Adams attending Coleridge's lectures of the same year.

A 'J Adams' appears under 1788 on the 1796 list, but not in this year of the diary. The 'Adams junior' entered under 1795 on the 1796 list is even more of a mystery as Joseph Adams did not have children.

• London Medical Repository Monthly Journal, and Review, vol. 10 (1818) pp. 167-70.
• DNB
• The Diary of Henry Crabb Robinson: An Abridgement, ed. by Derek Hudson (London: Oxford University Press, 1967), and esp. 21 June 1811 and 20 October 1811
• Richard Holmes, Coleridge: Darker Reflections (London: HarperCollins, 1998) pp. 424-5 and 427
• E.V. Lucas, The Life of Charles Lamb, 2 vols (1905, 7th edn. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1921)

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.