Eric Abbott

Who was Eric Abbott?

Eric Symes Abbott KCVO was an English Anglican priest and Dean of Westminster.

Abbott was born in Nottingham in 1906 to William Henry Abbott and Mary Symes, both schoolteachers. He was educated at Nottingham High School and later studied classics and theology at Jesus College, Cambridge. After graduating he held a number of different posts, such as chaplain and dean of King's College London, and warden of Keble College, Oxford. He was also a chaplain to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. In 1959, he was made Dean of Westminster, a position he held until 1974. As such he presided over the 900th anniversary of the founding of the abbey in 1965-1966. In 1966 he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.

Abbott never married. He died at Haslemere in 1983. In his memory the Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Fund provides for annual lectures on spirituality, held alternately in Oxford and London.