He served in the executive Council of Victoria as a minister without office from 23 January 1893 to 27 September 1894 under the Patterson Government.

He studied at King Edward Free Grammar School in Birmingham up until age 12 when he left to work for his father who was a millwright.

[2] Once in Victoria Abbott settled in the Forest Creek area and mined for gold successfully near Moonlight Flat and Wesley Hill.

Around this time, Abbott, alongside Ebenezer Syme and George Edward Thomson started the newspaper the Diggers Advocate which was a strong opponent against the cost of mining permits.

[2] In the 1876 Victorian Legislative Council election contested a vacancy in the North Western Province against Alexander Fraser.