Head-and-shoulders, classical-style marble bust of Admiral Sir Charles Adam on a round socle, the sitter dressed in a loose tunic close round the neck, his head turned half to his right.

Adam was Governor of Greenwich Hospital from 1847 to his death in September 1853, and this bust was commissioned by subscription among his friends, including many Hospital officers, as a memorial to him. It was formally presented to the Hospital in 1855 but exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1856 before being placed in the Naval Gallery in the Painted Hall on an inscribed purpose-made square pedestal.

Adam was a well-connected Scot, his father William was a notable lawyer, and his grandfather John Adam, the architect and brother of Robert and James Adam. He had a very active career, which began when he was a boy under Howe at the Glorious First of June 1794 and then under his uncle, George Elphinstone (later Lord Keith) at the capture of the Cape of Good Hope in 1796.

He became a captain in 1799. After 1815, through his father's service to the Prince Regent, he became captain of the royal yacht; rear-admiral in 1825, Lord of the Admiralty 1835-41 and 1841-46 and Commander in Chief in North America and the West Indies 1835-4. His older brother, John, was a notable Indian administrator and a younger one, Sir Frederick Adam, an equally distinguished soldier.