John Roland Abbey

Major John Roland Abbey (23 November 1894 – 24 December 1969) was an English book collector and high sheriff.

Early life He was the eldest of three sons of William Henry Abbey, a brewer, and his wife Florence Belcher. He was named John Rowland before dropping the 'w'. He attended Windlesham House School, Brighton from 1907 to 1909; and then was subsequently educated in nearby Rottingdean by a private tutor, Mr Möens, after an accident caused permanent damage to one of his elbows.

Military career In November 1914, at the start of World War I, he was commissioned as a regimental officer in the Rifle Brigade, serving for two years on the Western Front in the 13th and 8th Battalions. He experienced a lucky escape as part of the 8th Battalion; while he was serving in reserve, the battalion took part in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, losing all officers but one. He was gassed in November 1916 and spent five months recovering in hospital before being invalided out in October 1917 and demobilised in 1919. His younger brother Lieutenant Noel Roland Abbey was killed on the Western Front in April 1918 while serving with the Grenadier Guards. Abbey later rejoined the Rifle Brigade in November 1939, and served from 1941 to October 1943 as staff officer to the Admiral-Superintendent at Great Yarmouth. He left the army in 1943 and was awarded the honorary rank of Major in 1946. daughter of Wilfred Cairns, 4th Earl Cairns, with whom he had two daughters. In 1945, he was appointed High Sheriff of Sussex, a position he held for a year.

Works English Bindings 1490-1940 in the Library of J. R. Abbey (1940) An Exhibition of Modern English and French Bindings from the Collection of Major J. R. Abbey (1949) Scenery of Great Britain and Ireland in Aquatint and Lithography, 1770-1860, from the Library of J. R. Abbey; a Bibliographical Catalogue (1952) Life in England in Aquatint and Lithography, 1770-1860: Architecture, Drawing Books, Art Collections, Magazines, Navy and Army, Panoramas etc., from the Library of J. R. Abbey; a Bibliographical Catalogue (1953) Travel in Aquatint and Lithography, 1770-1860, from the Library of J. R. Abbey; a Bibliographical Catalogue (in 2 vols., 1956) Catalogue of the Celebrated Valuable Printed Books and Fine Bindings from the Collection of Major J. R. Abbey. Sotheby & Co., (in 11 vols., 1965-78)