View source for Frederick Abbott Indian Army officer

{{short description|British officer in the army of the East India Company}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix  = [[Sir]]
| name              = Frederick Abbott
| honorific_suffix  = [[Order of the Bath|CB]]
| image         = FrederickAbbott NPG Ax58449.jpg
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| caption       = Major General Sir Frederick Abbott CB<br>by [[Camille Silvy]], 1862.
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| birth_date    = {{birth date|1805|06|13|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = Little Court, [[Buntingford]], [[Hertfordshire, England|Hertfordshire]], England
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1892|11|04|1805|06|13|df=yes}}
| death_place   = [[Branksome Park]], [[Poole]], [[Dorset, England|Dorset]], England
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Major-General '''Sir Frederick Abbott''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CB|}} (13 June 1805 – 4 November 1892) was a [[British Indian Army]] officer and engineer of the [[British East India Company|East India Company]].

==Background==
Frederick was born at Little Court, [[Buntingford]], Hertfordshire, the second son of Henry Alexius Abbott, a retired [[Calcutta]] merchant of Blackheath, Kent,<ref>Dod's Peerage 1860, p.79</ref> and his wife Margaret Welsh, the daughter of William Welsh of Edinburgh. He had the following siblings:
* Margaret (1801–1877)
* [[Major-General (United Kingdom)|Major-General]] [[Augustus Abbott]] (1804–1867)
* [[General (United Kingdom)|General]] [[James Abbott (Indian Army officer)|Sir James Abbott]], KCB (1807–1896)
* Emma Abbott (1809–1875)
* Major General [[Saunders Alexius Abbott]] (1811–1894)
* [[Keith Edward Abbott]], Consul General (1814–1873)
* Edmund Abbott (1816–1816)<ref name = Dod/>

==Career==
After training at [[Addiscombe Military Seminary]] from 1820 to 1822, Abbott was posted to India with the [[Bengal Engineers]] in 1823. He served in the [[First Burmese War]], and in 1825 distinguished himself in the [[Battle of Prome]], where he was wounded. After serving in different locations in India, he took part as chief engineer in the [[First Anglo-Afghan War]]. Here he was ordered to destroy the great bazaar of [[Kabul]] as a retribution for the murder of a British officer, an action he later regretted. In 1841, Abbott was appointed superintending engineer of the north-western provinces of [[Bengal]]. He fought in the [[First Anglo-Sikh War]] in 1846, and took part in the [[Battle of Sobraon]], for which he was awarded a Companion of the [[Order of the Bath]].

He retired one year later and took over as lieutenant-governor of Addiscombe Seminary in 1851.<ref name = Dod/> Abbott became a [[knight bachelor]] in 1854 and was promoted to Major-General in 1858.<ref name = Dod/> In 1859, he was appointed to serve on the [[Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom]], whose recommendations prompted a huge programme of fortification for the British naval dockyards.<ref>Hogg, Ian V (1974), Coast Defences of England and Wales, 1856-1956, David & Charles, {{ISBN|978-0-7153635-3-9}} (p. 20)</ref> After the college was closed in 1861, he served on various other royal commissions.

==Family==
In 1835, he married Frances Cox, da. of Lt.Col. Cox, Royal Artillery, and widow of Lt.Col. Hubert de Burgh.<ref name = Dod>{{cite book | last = Dod | first = Robert P. | title = The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland | year = 1860 | publisher = Whitaker and Co. | location = London | pages = 79 }}</ref> Abbott died in [[Branksome Park]], [[Poole]] in 1892.<ref>Walford, Edward. The County Families of the UK, London, 1891, p.1</ref> His wife and daughter both predeceased him.

==References==
{{DNB01 poster|Abbott, Frederick}}
{{reflist}}
*{{cite book | author = R. H. Vetch|author2=Rev. Roger T. Stearn | title = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | publisher = Oxford University Press | chapter = Abbott, Sir Frederick (1805–1892) | year = 2004 | chapter-url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15 | accessdate =20 March 2007 }}
*{{Cite book |first=H.M. |last=Vibart |title=Addiscombe: its heroes and men of note |place=Westminster |publisher=Archibald Constable |year=1894 |pages=190–200 |ol=23336661M }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Frederick}}
[[Category:1805 births]]
[[Category:1892 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Addiscombe Military Seminary]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the First Anglo-Afghan War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the First Anglo-Burmese War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the First Anglo-Sikh War]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:People from Buntingford]]
[[Category:Bengal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:British Indian Army generals]]
[[Category:British East India Company Army officers]]