Bernard Adams was born in London, England in 1884 [1878 or 1879 - sources differ] and studied at westminster School of Art in London and at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten/Académie royale des beaux-arts in Antwerp. He lived in London and in Buckland Common, near Tring in Hertfordshire and died on 10 April 1965.