Edith Abbott was the daughter of Alfred George Abbott, who came to Australia on the Carnaquheen in 1868 from Bideford, Devon, and his wife Cath (Kate Lawrence). Her father worked at that time as a traveller, and they lived in Kent Town, Adelaide.
Edith was educated at a North Adelaide school, and became Court Reporter for the South Australian Register. At one time she was Literary Secretary to the Editor, Sir William Sowden. She also wrote theatre reviews. She loved books and had a very fine collection. She was on the original committee of the Cheer-up Society supporting SA's soldiers, and in 1917 she edited the verse anthology Violet Verses as a fundraiser for the Society.
She came to be known for her Victorian style of dress, with black skirt, white blouse with starched collar, tie and straw hat. She lived on Greenhill Road, then moved to Mitchell St, Hyde Park, where she lived with her mother in a house built for them by her brother. She moved to Melbourne with her mother in about 1930, and worked for some time for the Victorian Gas Co, editing their magazine. As well as the biography of Kate Cocks listed here she wrote The Story of the Prison Work of Mrs E. B. Turner (1940) and Women who Helped Pioneers (1954). She was a member of the Lyceum Club.
Her mother died in 1933, and Edith moved to Mooroolbark, Vic, with her friend Hilda Davies, a nursing sister. When Hilda died Edith moved to St Lawrence's Home, Melbourne, where she eventually developed Altzheimer's disease and died at the age of 83. She is buried in the Lillydale cemetery.
