Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Henry Horatio Abbott was a sergeant of the Australian Imperial Force in World War One. He was born in September 1892 in Broken Hill, New South Wales. He was born to his mother Emily Abbott. Before he signed up for war in 1915, he was a tailor in Adelaide. Abbott also followed the Church of England as his religion throughout his life. He was 5 foot 3 ½ inches tall and weighed 131 pounds, with his chest measurement being 32 ½ -34 ½ inches on his enlistment date. As described in his enlistment papers he also had hazel eyes, dark brown hair and had perfect vision in both eyes.

Abbott enlisted on the 24th of August 1915, at the age of 22 years and 11 months at the Keswick Barracks in Adelaide. Abbott embarked from Adelaide, South Australia, on board HMAT A30 Borda on 11 January 1916 to Fremantle, Western Australia. On 17 January 1916 HMAT A30 Borda left Fremantle to Port Suez in Egypt arriving on the 9th of February 1916. Abbott completed his training in Egypt before being transferred to the 50th battalion on the 26th February 1916. The 50th battalion fought on the Western Front in France, where he started as a private. On the 1st of March, only a few days after he became a private, he was promoted to temporary corporal within the 50th Battalion. Later that year, on the first of July, he was promoted to Sergeant of the 50th Battalion, and remained in that position until the end of his time at war.

His battalion was a part of many battles throughout the Great War, including Fromelles (1916): The 50th Battalion took part in this disastrous battle on the Western Front in France. Noreuil (1917): The 50th battalion attacked the commune on the Western front. Arras (1917): An offensive on the western front in the area of the French city Arras.  During this time, the role Abbott had within these battles was part of the infantry soldiers of the time. Infantry soldiers were the most common soldiers and operated on foot in battalions of around 1000 men. The major battles from Abbott’s career include the attack of Noreuil, in which he suffered a minor bomb injury on the 2nd of April 1917. This was then followed in the next offensive of Arras in which he suffered from trench feet and was admitted to hospital on the 18th of April. Trench feet is a medical condition that is caused by the feet being damp, unsanitary and cold for long periods of time. It mostly effects the tissue, skin, nerves and the blood vessels of the feet.  One day later on the 19th of April during the same offensive he returned to the battlefield, in which he suffered a severe gunshot wound to the right leg. The shot fractured both is his Tibia and Fibula, permanently damaging his leg. Due to his injury, he missed out on the next campaign on Ypres, including the Polygon wood and Messines attacks.        

He was later honourably discharged due to his injuries and returned back home to Australia on the 5th of November 1917. He spent a total of 664 days away from home and returned to Adelaide to his mother. He married in the next year to a woman named Vera in St Paul’s Church, Port Adelaide on the 3rd of June 1918. Less than one year later, Vera passed away at the age of 23 on the 25th of April 1919. At the end of the Great War, Abbott received a British war medal and a victory medal for his service. Finally, on the 11th of September 1970, Henry Horatio Abbott passed away, at age 78. He is buried at Centennial Park Cemetery in Pasadena, Adelaide, South Australia.