Abdy baronets

Abdy baronets, of Felix Hall, Essex

• Sir Thomas Abdy, 1st Baronet, was an English lawyer and landowner, the son of Anthony Abdy and Abigail Campbell. Abdy was baptised on 18 May 1612, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, to which he was admitted in 1629 as a Fellow Commoner. He became a member of Lincoln's Inn in 1632. Abdy married Mary Corsellis on 1 February 1638 at St Peter le Poer, London, by whom he had three children, James, Rachael, and Abigail. Abdy inherited the family seat of Felix Hall, Essex, upon his father's death in 1640, and was created a baronet in the following year, on 14 July 1641. Mary died on 6 April 1645 and was buried at Kelvedon. On 16 January 1647, Sir Thomas made a second marriage, at St Bartholomew-the-Less, London, to Anne Soame, daughter of Sir Thomas Soame, an alderman of London. They had ten children: Anthony, Thomas, William, Joanna, Alice, Anna, Mary, Judith, Sarah, and Elizabeth. In 1651, Abdy was named High Sheriff of Essex, but continued to prosper after the Restoration, seeking a lease from the Crown soon afterwards of the sugar duty. He inherited the property of his cousin Sir Christopher Abdy of Uxbridge in 1679, the same year in which his wife Anne died, on 16 June 1679. Abdy died on 14 January 1686 and was buried at Theydon Garnons, Essex, being succeeded by his son Anthony. His monument at Theydon Garnons was, perhaps, designed by William Stanton.
• Sir Anthony Abdy, 2nd Baronet was an English landowner, eldest surviving son of the 1st Baronet. Baptized on 4 July 1655, he was educated, like his father, at Trinity College, to which he was admitted in 1672. He married Mary Milward, daughter of Rev. Dr. Richard Milward, on 9 June 1682, by whom he had thirteen children: Thomas, Joanna, Elizabeth, Anthony Thomas, William, Rachel, Charles, Richard, Alice, Margaret, Martha, Anna, and Mary. Anthony succeeded to the baronetcy in 1686 on the death of his father, and died on 2 April 1704. He was buried at Kelvedon, where his monument was designed by Edward Stanton, and was succeeded by his son Anthony Thomas in the baronetcy.
• Sir Anthony Thomas Abdy, 3rd Baronet, English lawyer and landowner, was the eldest surviving son of the 2nd Baronet, and succeeded to the baronetcy in 1704. Abdy was admitted to Lincoln's Inn on 9 October 1708. His first wife was Mary Gifford, by whom he had no children. By his second wife, Charlotte Barnardiston, daughter of Sir Thomas Barnardiston, 3rd Baronet, he had one daughter, Charlotte, who married John Williams, son of Sir John Williams, Lord Mayor of London. By his third wife, a Miss Williams, he likewise had no male issue, and upon his death in 1733, was succeeded in the baronetcy by his brother William.
• Sir William Abdy, 4th Baronet, English landowner, was the second surviving son of the 2nd Baronet. He married the daughter of Philip Stotherd, and by her had three sons, Anthony Thomas, Rev. Stotherd, and Capt. William, and several daughters, including Charlotte Elizabeth, who married Rev. Dr. Thomas Rutherforth on 11 April 1752. He succeeded to the baronetcy upon the death of his brother in 1733. On his own death in 1750, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Anthony Thomas.
• Sir Anthony Thomas Abdy, 5th Baronet, KC, English lawyer and landowner, was the eldest son of the 4th Baronet. He became a King's Counsel, and represented Knaresborough in the House of Commons from 1763 until his death in 1775. The baronetcy passed to his brother William.
• Captain Sir William Abdy, 6th Baronet, English landowner and naval officer, was the third surviving son of the 4th Baronet. He became a captain in the Royal Navy before inheriting the baronetcy from his brother Sir Anthony in 1775. He married Mary Gordon, by whom he had one son, William.
• Sir William Abdy, 7th Baronet, English landowner, was the only son of the 6th Baronet. He was educated at Eton, and succeeded to the baronetcy in 1803. Abdy served in the militia and was an active magistrate for Surrey, and briefly served as a member of parliament. He married Anne Wellesley in 1806, but the two were divorced in 1816, without issue. The baronetcy became extinct upon his death.

  Abdy baronets, of Albyns, Essex (first creation)

• Sir Robert Abdy, 1st Baronet was the second son of Anthony Abdy, alderman of London, and younger brother of Sir Thomas Abdy, 1st Baronet. He married Catherine, the daughter of Sir John Gayer. He was knighted on 6 June 1660 and was created a baronet a few days later, on 9 June.He had several sons and daughters, including John, and Catherine Abdy, who married John Pennington. Sir Robert died in 1670 and was buried at Stapleford Abbotts.
• Sir John Abdy, 2nd Baronet was the eldest son of the 1st Baronet, whom he succeeded in 1670. He married Jane Nicholas, the granddaughter of Sir Edward Nicholas, on 10 May 1687 in Westminster Abbey. By her he left a son, Robert, who succeeded him, and a daughter, Jane, who married Rev. Edward Cranke. Sir John died in 1691 and was buried at Stapleford Abbotts.
• Sir Robert Abdy, 3rd Baronet FSA, English Jacobite and antiquary, was the only son of the 2nd Baronet. He succeeded to the baronetcy as a child in 1691. A zealous Tory, he sat as Member of Parliament for Essex from 1727 until his death. He was a confidant of the Young Pretender and was privy to the plans for the abortive French invasion of 1744, which was intended to support a Jacobite rising in Essex. He died in 1748 and was succeeded by his eldest son, John.
• Sir John Abdy, 4th Baronet was the eldest son of the 3rd Baronet. Educated at the Middle Temple and Trinity College, Oxford, he succeeded his father in the baronetcy and as Member of Parliament for Essex in 1748 and sat as a Tory until his death, unmarried, in 1759. He left his estates to his third cousin Sir Anthony Abdy, 5th Baronet.

  Abdy baronets, of Moores, Essex

• Sir John Abdy, 1st Baronet was the third son of Anthony Abdy, alderman of London, and younger brother of Sir Thomas Abdy, 1st Baronet and Sir Robert Abdy, 1st Baronet. He was knighted and subsequently created a baronet on 22 June 1660. Sir John died unmarried around 1662 and left his estates to his brother, Sir Robert.

  Abdy baronets, of Albyns (1849–)

• Sir Thomas Neville Abdy, 1st Baronet
• Sir William Neville Abdy, 2nd Baronet was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Abdy, 1st Baronet. He succeeded his father in 1877. Educated at Merton College, Oxford, he served as a Justice of the Peace for Essex, and was named High Sheriff of the county in 1884. He married three times, but had no children, and was succeeded by his brother Anthony.
• Sir Anthony Charles Sykes Abdy, 3rd Baronet was a British soldier, the second son of Sir Thomas Abdy, 1st Baronet. He served in the 2nd Life Guards, rising to the rank of captain, and fought in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War. Abdy was a military attaché in Vienna in 1885. He married Hon. Alexandrina Victoria Macdonald, daughter of Godfrey Macdonald, 4th Baron Macdonald and Maria Anne Wyndham, on 11 November 1886. They had three daughters: Grace Lillian, married Henry Butler, 8th Earl of Lanesborough in 1917, Violet, married Hugh Godsal in 1925, and Constance Mary, married Harold Frederic Andorsen in 1941. Upon the death of his elder brother William in 1910 without children, Anthony succeeded to the baronetcy.
• Sir Henry Beadon Abdy, 4th Baronet was the fourth son of Sir Thomas Abdy, 1st Baronet. He married Anna Adele Coronna on 22 March 1891, and had two sons by her: William Neville, who predeceased him, and Robert. He succeeded to the baronetcy when his brother Anthony died in May 1921, leaving only daughters, but Sir Henry died that December, and was succeeded by his only surviving son.
• Sir Robert Henry Edward Abdy, 5th Baronet was the second son of Sir Henry Abdy, 4th Baronet. He was educated at Charterhouse School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and subsequently became a lieutenant in the 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars. Sir Robert married Iya De Gay on 23 June 1923, but they were divorced in 1928. Two years later, on 10 February 1930, he married Lady Helen Diana Bridgeman, daughter of the 5th Earl of Bradford. They had one son, Valentine, before being divorced in 1962. Sir Robert's third wife was Jane Noble, whom he married on 5 September 1962 and divorced in 1973. After the divorce Jane continued to look after Robert until his death. Jane, Lady Abdy died in 2015.
• Sir Valentine Robert Duff Abdy, 6th Baronet was the only son of Sir Robert Abdy, 5th Baronet. Educated at Eton College, he was a European Representative at the Smithsonian Institution, 1983–1995, serving in 1995 as a member of the National Board. He was Special Advisor to the International Fund for the Promotion of Culture, UNESCO in 1991. He was a member of the Organising Committee, Cité de l'Espace, Toulouse from 1999. Sir Valentine married Mathilde Marie Alexe Christianne de la Ferté in 1971, and they had one son, Robert Etienne Eric Abdy, before divorcing in 1982.
• Sir Robert Etienne Eric Abdy, 7th Baronet, the only son of the 6th Baronet.