Augustus Abbott

Major-General Augustus Abbott (7 January 1804 – 25 February 1867) was an army officer in the British East India Company. Abbott was the brother of Frederick Abbott and James Abbott

Born in London the son of a retired Calcutta merchant, he was educated at Winchester College and at the East India Company's military college at Addiscombe. In 1819 he went to India, as second lieutenant, and by 1835 had been made captain. He then served with distinction in the First Anglo-Afghan War from 1838 to 1842, where he played an important part in the siege of Jalalabad.

In 1843 Abbott married Sophia Frances, daughter of Captain John Garstin. The couple had four daughters and three sons. He was promoted to major in 1845 and major-general in 1859, but earlier that year he had already been forced to return home due to poor health. He died in Cheltenham in 1867.

In addition to Frederick and James, Augustus had two other younger brothers: Saunders Alexius Abbott (1811 – 1894), also an army officer in the East India Company, who played an important part in the Battle of Mudki during the First Anglo-Sikh War, and made the rank of major-general, and Keith Edward Abbott (d. 1873), consul-general at Tabriz and later Odessa.

References

*Vetch, R. H., "rev." Roger T. Stearn, "Abbot, Augustus", "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", (Oxford, 2004)
*Abbot, Augustus., "The Afghan war, 1838-1842 : from the journal and correspondence of the late Major - General Augustus Abbott" (Publisher: R. Bentley and son, London)