3157 Private A Abott, 2nd Battalion the (Princess Victoria's) Royal Irish Fusiliers. The battalion deployed to South Africa for the Second Anglo Boer War, sailing on the Hawarden Castle on 23rd October 1899, arriving at the Cape about 12 Nov 1899, and was sent on to Durban. Along with the 2nd Royal Fusiliers, 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers, and 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers, they formed the 6th or Fusilier Brigade under Major General Barton. They were part of the Ladysmith relief force and fought at the Battle of Colenso on 15 Dec 1899 and at the Battle of Tugela Heights 14-27 Feb 1900, the final and successful breakthrough to Ladysmith, including the successful assault on Pieter's Hill. They were redeployed with their brigade to Kimberley in the Cape Colony about the middle of Apr 1900 to take part in the relief of Mafeking. On 5 May 1900 the battalion took part in the battle of Rooidam, when the Boers were defeated with considerable loss. They then marched into the Transvaal and occupied various towns with little fighting. On 16 Jul 1900 three companies of the battalion were fiercely attacked near Irene by 2000 Boers with eight guns but they greatly distinguished themselves with the Boers withdrawing. The battalion became the garrison at Machadodorp in Sep 1900 and were attacked, but the Boers were again forced to withdraw. They left Machadodorp a year later and were briefly put into columns under General F W Kitchener, Colonel Campbell, and General Bruce Hamilton before being sent to Newcastle and then to the eastern Transvaal. In Jan 1902 they escorted convoys to Bethel and Ermelo, before being sent to the Ermelo-Carolina blockhouse line until the proclamation of peace. Private Abott died at Standerton, Transvaal about 2 months after the war ended.

He is not commemorated on the Royal Irish Fusiliers Boer War memorial in The Mall, Armagh, County Armagh, Northern Ireland (see: http://www.irishwarmemorials.ie/Memorials-Detail?memoId=856).