Will Adams Memorial, Gillingham, Kent. UK
Posted by: 
dave-harris
N 51° 22.330 E 000° 33.698
31U E 330284 N 5694034
A plaque for Will Adams in Gillingham
Waymark Code: WMET16
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/03/2012
Views: 4
Some of the following information was gathered from both the plaque and the attached website.
Will Adams was born in Gillingham on September 24th,1564, and died in Japan in 1620 at the age of 55.
In between this time he was apprenticed to shipyard owner, Master Nicholas Diggins at Limehouse near London for the seafaring life. He spent the next twelve years learning shipbuilding, astronomy, and navigation before entering the Royal Navy where he served under Sir Francis Drake.
Eventually he ended up in Japan where he became a key adviser to the shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu and built for him Japan's first Western-style ships.
Will Adams was the inspiration for the character of John Blackthorne in James Clavell's bestselling novel Shogun. It has also been made into a UK television mini-series. Shogun, was produced in 1980.
The clock tower and memorial was officially opened in 1934.
The plaque on the monument reads:
"Will Adams
Born Gillingham AD 1564
Died Japan AD 1620
William Adams after service in the English Fleet to Queen Elizabeth embarked on a Dutch expedition which left Texei Holland in 1598. Cast ashore off the coast of Japan in 1600. He was taken into service of the Japanese Shogun and become his adviser. He constructed for the Shogun two vessels of European design and instructed his adopted countrymen in gunnery, geography and mathematics and the like and engaged on their behalf in foreign trading. A monument erected in Yokosuka perpetuates his memory and his work for the Japanese nation.
This clock tower erected in the town of his birth by public subscription was unveiled on 11th May 1934 by his excellency Tsuneo Matsudaira GCVO Japanese ambassador to the court of St James
Aldermaqn S O Summers JP
Mayor of Gillingham"
Type of Historic Marker: Brass Plaque
Historical Marker Issuing Authority: Gillingham Council
Age/Event Date: 05/11/1934
Related Website: [Web Link]
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