The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Abigail, Francis
Abigail, Francis, J.P., son of the late William Abigail, was born in London in 1840. He emigrated to Sydney in 1860, and married there, in 1861. Mr. Abigail was M.L.A. for West Sydney from 1880 to June 1891, when he was defeated. He was Minister of Mines in Sir Henry Parkes' Administration from Jan. 20th, 1887, to Jan. 10th, 1889, and is a J.P. of the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria. He was a member of the New South Wales Commission for the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition of 1888, and for the Exhibition of Mining and Metallurgy, held at the Crystal Palace in 1890, in which year he visited England, and received a cordial welcome from the various Orange bodies in England and the north of Ireland. Whilst in London he gave valuable evidence before the Royal Commission on Mines.