ABBOTT, Daniel (d. aft. 1676), of Nenagh, co. Tipperary.

Daniel Abbott’s parentage is uncertain. His petition to the protectoral council of 10 December 1657, on behalf of Nathaniel Abbott, minister of Pilton in Somerset, may, however, provide a clue to his origins.17CSP Dom. 1657-8, p. 209. Nathaniel Abbott, who was born around 1596, graduated from Oxford in 1619, and became vicar of Pilton in 1622.18Al. Ox. He was not a conscientious clergyman, being presented for his refusal to serve a chapel-at-ease in his parish in 1641, but he was sufficiently conformable to hold on to his living until at least 1657.19HMC 4th Rep. 49. Daniel Abbott, who was probably little more than 20 years of age in 1642, may have been Nathaniel’s son. His first definite mention on the historical record was in March 1645, when he was serving as captain of dragoons in the Eastern Association army, based at Newport Pagnell.20CSP Dom. 1644-5, p. 337. In April he was recruited into John Okey’s* regiment of dragoons in the New Model army, and fought at Naseby in June.21Temple, ‘Original officer list’, 69; SP28/30, ff. 443, 582. In May 1647 Abbott was one of the officers guarding Charles I at Holdenby in Northamptonshire, and intercepted a letter from John Ashburnham* which urged the king not to make peace with Parliament.22Perfect Diurnal, no. 199 (17-24 May 1647), 1598 (E.515.14). In the summer and autumn of 1647, Abbott, now promoted to major, was involved in the army debates. He was one of only three officers who signed the 17 July Representation of the Agitators, calling for the expulsion of the 11 impeached members from Parliament, the imposition of Independent officers in the London militia, the release of John Lilburne, and guarantees of army pay.23Clarke Pprs. i. 170-3. He was also present at the Putney debates in November 1647, and attended the army councils and committees in December 1648 and the new year of 1649.24Clarke Pprs. i. 416; ii. 270-1. Despite his involvement in army politics, Abbott was no Leveller. In May 1649 he supported Colonel John Reynolds* in preventing the mutinous soldiers from crossing the Thames at Newbridge.25Ian Gentles, New Model Army (Oxford, 1992), 341. Oliver Cromwell* rewarded Abbott’s loyalty in July 1649, when he was chosen to command a new regiment of dragoons raised for the invasion of Ireland.26SP28/61, f. 371. The core of this new regiment was formed of five troops from Okey’s regiment, but Abbott had difficulty in enlisting new recruits in London, and by early August there were reports that ‘[his] troops are not near full, and some few do list themselves, which is some discouragement to the officers and friends of the Parliament here’.27Perfect Diurnal, no. 315 (6-13 Aug. 1649), 2694 (E.352.15).

Despite these recruitment problems, it is likely that Abbott crossed to Dublin with Cromwell in August 1649. He was certainly in Ireland by early October, when his regiment received its first regular pay.28SP28/63, f. 16. Thereafter, he fought in a number of campaigns in the south of Ireland, and after a joint-operation with John Reynolds against Kilinan Castle in Tipperary, Cromwell promised to allow his men payment as troopers of horse, rather than dragoons.29CSP Ire. 1647-60, p. 657. Abbott was made governor of Nenagh Castle in western Tipperary, probably in late 1651.30Ludlow, Mems. i. 262. He was present at the siege of Limerick, and brought news of Henry Ireton’s* mortal illness to the parliamentary commissioners at Dublin in December of that year.31Ludlow, Mems. i. 495. In early 1652 his regiment was dispersed into garrisons, with four troops being assigned to Dublin precinct, under the command of Colonel John Hewson*.32CSP Ire. 1666-9, p. 368. In February Abbott joined Jerome Sankey* and Daniel Axtell* in a raid against Colonel Fitzpatrick’s forces at Bawn on the Tipperary/King’s County border, and in June he led a mixed force against Colonel Grace, killing over one thousand Irish troops.33Ire. under the Commonwealth, i. 128; Tanner Lttrs. 369. When Grace finally surrendered in August, Abbott was one of the signatories of the articles.34Ire. under the Commonwealth, i. 260n. As a reward for his own service, in February 1653 Abbott was granted the lease of the Nenagh estate in co. Tipperary, which had been confiscated from the marquess of Ormond, and in 1655 he was given control of the lead and silver mines in the same county.35Eg. 1762, f. 205; Barnard, Cromwellian Ireland, 39. Abbott also served as sheriff of Tipperary and Waterford (presiding over the elections in August 1654), and as assessment commissioner for Kilkenny and Tipperary from October 1654.36C219/44, unfol.; An Assessment for Ire. He had been appointed sheriff of Kilkenny by June 1655, and when the lord deputy (Charles Fleetwood*) visited Kilkenny City, Abbott went out to greet him.37Mercurius Politicus, no. 262 (14-21 June 1655), 5417. In the spring of 1656 he was involved in the transplantation of Irish landowners from the same region, and attended the assizes at Cashel.38Henry Cromwell Corresp. 119-20.

As a prominent member of the military establishment, Abbott greeted the arrival of Henry Cromwell*, as general of the army in Ireland, without enthusiasm. In 1655-6 he became a leading figure in the fight for the settlement of the army’s pay arrears: in the summer of 1655 he presented the army’s petition to the Irish council, calling for a better deal; in May 1656 he was appointed as trustee for military arrears; and in November and December he acted as agent for the army in the same cause.39Down Survey ed. T.A. Larcom (Dublin, 1851), 69-76, 86, 196-8; Ire. under the Commonwealth, ii. 597, 600. Abbott’s activity on behalf of the army may have worried Henry Cromwell, who was under attack from Hewson and other discontented officers during the same period. In the elections for the second protectorate Parliament in August 1656, Abbott was elected for cos. Tipperary and Waterford, probably on his own interest as a commander and landowner. Yet Henry Cromwell selected Abbott’s regiment for inclusion in the force drawn ‘into the field’ in September to protect against Irish unrest, and Abbott was given special responsibility for security in Tipperary and Waterford.40TSP, v. 422; Ire. under the Commonwealth, ii. 622. Whether Henry Cromwell’s intended to prevent Abbott’s attendance at Westminster is uncertain, but it had that effect. When the house was called in late December 1656, Abbott was excused for his absence, and there is no evidence that he went to Westminster later in the session.41Burton’s Diary i. 288.

Abbott’s relations with Henry Cromwell’s government began to improve in the late 1650s, but the process was a slow one. In December 1657 he petitioned the protector, asking that he fulfil his 1650 promise to pay his regiment as horse troops, and the matter was referred to the protectoral council, which agreed to the increase.42CSP Ire. 1647-60, p. 657. This move brought vigorous protests from Henry Cromwell, who complained to Fleetwood that Abbott’s claim made a nonsense of his attempts to cut the costs of the army: ‘although I wish very well to Colonel Abbott and several others of that regiment, yet I must needs say, I am startled at so incongruous an action’.43TSP, vi. 744. Despite his obvious irritation over this incident, Henry Cromwell did not hold a personal grudge against Abbott, and in May 1658 he entrusted him with taking the army’s address of loyalty to London.44TSP, vii. 115. After Oliver Cromwell’s death in September Abbott persuaded his officers to sign a ‘humble address’ accepting Richard Cromwell* as protector, and he told Henry Cromwell of his sadness at the death of ‘the most renowned, never to be forgotten late lord protector’, while hoping that ‘those branches which sprung from so noble a stock’ would flourish.45Lansdowne 823, f. 114. In November 1658 Henry knighted Abbott in Dublin.46Shaw, Knights of Eng. ii. 224. At the beginning of March 1659 Abbott petitioned Henry Cromwell for further support against attempts by other officers to take control of the Tipperary silver mines, which he held on lease.47Henry Cromwell Corresp. 463-4. Abbott seems to have been under considerable financial pressure at this time, and in April 1659 he borrowed money on an Irish statute staple bond of £2,100.48Irish Statute Staple Bks. 164.

The amicable relationship between Abbott and Henry Cromwell did not survive the collapse of the protectorate. Abbott was above all a military man, and seems to have changed his allegiances to retain his command (and his military salary). On 8 July 1659 he was chosen as colonel of dragoons by the committee of safety in London.49CSP Dom. 1659-60, p. 13. By October he had taken the Engagement and was confirmed in his command, and in the same month signed the Irish officers’ address approving of John Lambert’s* actions in England.50CSP Ire. 1647-60, p. 692; Clarke Pprs. iv. 95n. As a result, Abbott fell foul of the Old Protestant officers who had taken control of Ireland by the new year of 1660. Ordered to Dublin, he was arrested, and imprisoned until after the restoration of the monarchy.51Ludlow, Mems. ii. 474. In the months after the return of the king, Abbott was under continued suspicion, and was included among those proposed for exception from the act of settlement in May 1661.52T. Carte, Hist. of the Life of… Ormonde (6 vols. Oxford, 1951), iv. 53n. He also saw his local position steadily undermined. In October 1660 the duke of Ormond’s agent had taken legal possession of Nenagh, at which ‘Colonel Abbott… was much troubled, but at last drew all his family out’.53HMC Ormonde, n.s. iii. 9. He was allowed to keep the lease on a temporary basis, but in March 1663 was faced with paying high rents or eviction.54HMC Ormonde, n.s. iii. 49. It was this ultimatum which may have prompted Abbott’s involvement in Thomas Blood’s plot against Ormond in the following May.55CSP Ire. 1663-5, p. 99. He was placed under arrest, but was soon released and his sequestration was removed by Ormond’s order in July.56HMC 8th Rep. 511, 530. There are signs that Abbott’s financial position was deteriorating further at this time. In January 1663 he took out a statute staple bond for £1,000; in 1676 he entered another bond for £800.57Irish Statute Staple Bks. 164. Nothing more is known of his activities, or his descendants, although his nephew is recorded as having married a daughter of Colonel Thomas Sadleir* of Sopwell Hall, co. Tipperary.58Burke’s Landed Gentry of Ireland (1958), 622.