Saunders Alexius Abbott
Photograph by Felice Beato , 1858?1859
Born	( 1811-07-09 ) 9 July 1811
Died	7 February 1894 (1894-02-07) (aged 82) Brighton , England , United Kingdom
Allegiance	East India Company British India
Service/ branch	Bengal Army
Rank	Major-General
Battles/wars	First Anglo-Sikh War
Alma mater	Addiscombe Military Seminary
Relations	Henry Alexius Abbott and Margaret Welsh
Other work	Agent for a railway company

Major-General Saunders Alexius Abbott (9 July 1811 ? 7 February 1894) was an English military officer in the Bengal Army and administrator serving in British India .

Family background [ edit ]

Saunders was the fourth son of Henry Alexius Abbott, a retired Calcutta merchant of Blackheath, Kent, ^[1] and his wife Margaret Welsh, the daughter of William Welsh of Edinburgh. He had the following siblings:

• Margaret (1801?1877)
• Major General Augustus Abbott CB (1804?1867)
• Major General Sir Frederick Abbott CB (1805?1892)
• General Sir James Abbott KCB (1807?1896)
• Emma Abbott (1809?1875)
• Keith Edward Abbott , Consul General (1814?1873)
• Edmund Abbott (1816?1816)

Career [ edit ]

Abbott was educated privately and (like his brothers Augustus and Frederick) at Addiscombe Military Seminary . In 1828, he joined the Bengal Infantry . He was appointed in 1836 to be Assistant in the Revenue Survey under Henry Montgomery Lawrence . He held Survey charges from 1838 to 1842. He fought in the First Anglo-Sikh War of 1845?46. At the Battle of Mudki , he forced marched reserves from Kasauli and Sabathu . He served later as aide-de-camp to Sir Henry Hardinge at the Battle of Ferozeshah , during which he was dangerously wounded. In 1846 he was a brevet - major .

Abbott was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Umbala in 1847. He was appointed to the same post in Hoshiarpur in 1849 to 1854 and held the post during a mutiny. From 1858 to 1863 he was Commissioner of Lucknow . He was an honorary aide-de-camp to the governors-general until his retirement in September 1864.

After his retirement, Abbott became an agent for a railway company in Lahore before being promoted to its board of directors. He died in Brighton on 7 February 1894.

Sources [ edit ]

• Buckland, Charles (1906). Dictionary of Indian Biography . London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co. p. 2.
• Vetch, R. H.; Stearn, Roger T. (reviewer) (2010) [2004]. "Saunders Alexius Abbott (1811?1894) in Abbott, Augustus (1804?1867)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi : 10.1093/ref:odnb/11 . (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

References [ edit ]