abbott

CWGC has this: ABBOTT, JAMES LAWRENCE Rank: Sapper Service No: 2461 Date of Death: 23/07/1916 Age: 19 Regiment/Service: Australian Engineers 2nd Field Coy. Panel Reference Memorial VILLERS-BRETONNEUX MEMORIAL Additional Information: Son of Henry Richard and Catherine Isobel Abbott, of 14, Orchard St., Brighton, Victoria.

best shot

:(((( horrendously sad. A lost generation occurs in every war. My great grand mother who died in 1961 before i was born, apparently used to say with the birth of boys in the family "the next bullet for a war" Thanks for sharing.

War diary of 2nd Field Company has been digitised and can be found here www.awm.gov.au/collection/records/awm4/14/21/awm4-14-21-1...

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

I don't know anything about this man but in the 1970s I did know someone called John Abbott from Derby who was uncannily like this man (no longer in touch, I'm afraid). Perhaps this man might be from Derby? An inquiry to the Derby local paper might produce a response?

This could be tenuous and I hope someone with access to better records can come in and prove \ disprove the following.

I couldn't find a Medal Index Card Listing at the National Archive for a Lieutenant J P Abbott using most of the variations I could think off. So then I wondered if perhaps the photograph was taken while he was in training and that he was promoted prior to actual entering a Theatre of War - and that higher rank would be on the MIC.

So I tried searching for him as Captain Abbott of the Artillery and came up with a potential match - a Joseph Palmer Abbott, a Captain of the Royal Field Artillery. Most intriguing was the fact that his previous rank had been Private 1792 in the Australian Infantry Force. The Medal Index Card reference is WO 372/1/2434
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D9...

Of course if that was all I had I would have left it there - there is no matching candidate on the Commonwealth War Graves Commissions site for example. However there are a lot of good sources out there about individuals who served in the AIF - and a search for more information about Joseph Palmer Abbott produced an article in the Australian National Biography series about him - both his wartime service and subsequent role in the Australian Wool Industry and Australian Politics. The crux is that the article is illustrated with a picture (taken circa 1940) of an older man but there are definately a number of shared characteristics. My supposition is that its the same individual.

I won't post more here from his biography in case I'm wrong, but heres a link so you can check out the picture.
adb.anu.edu.au/biography/abbott-joseph-palmer-joe-9303

His Australian Army Records can be seen here
recordsearch.naa.gov.au/NameSearch/Interface/ItemDetail.a...

Supplement 11286 to the London Gazette dated 24th September 1918 publishes the Citation for the award of the Military Cross to Joseph Palmer Abbott, but shows him to be serving with the South African Force:

Lieutenant Joseph Palmer Abbott RFA; Special Reserve.

"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when enemy shelling set fire to charges and exploded shells in two gun pits. He ran with two men and jumped into a burning pit, and by tearing down the burning camouflage, extinguished the fire. His promptitude and courage were of great service."

On 2nd November 1918, Lieutenant J. P. Abbott MC RFA (Special Reserve), was appointed Acting Captain whilst 2nd in Command, (BK - Battery Captain), of a Battery; [London Gazette of 7th January 1919].

Lieutenant J. P. Abbott MC RFA relinquished his Commission wef 1st April 1920 [London Gazette of 17th August 1920].//

Moominpappa06 The photo is of him or a close relative.

Ancestry shows him to be the youngest son of Sir Joseph Palmer Abbott (1842-1901). JPA jnr was born 18 Oct 1891 and died 7 May 1965 according to online family trees. Australian Electoral Rolls show him living in Scone, Paterson, New South Wales.

It seems as though the King's Liverpool Regt. Had only one officer with the name W Abbott and he was 2Lt.William Abbott of the 9th Btn. His entry in the Medal Cards Index records his address as Pinewood Sanatorium, Wokingham, Berks. Pinewood Sanatorium was a TB hospital so I wonder if he was a patient suffering from the disease?