Abyssinia Road was named after a British expedition to Ethiopia.
The British Abyssinia expedition took place under General Napier towards the end of 1867 after the then king of Abyssinia - Theodore II - had requested British aid against his enemies in 1867. More than 13,000 troops were despatched from Bombay that December with the victory at Magdala taking place in March 1868.
Lying off Northcote Road, this street was named soon afterwards by the Conservative Land Society which had, in 1868, acquired part of the Bolingbroke Grove House estate from its final owner, Henry Wheeler. The street layout was the work of the society’s surveyor, James Wylson. He built Abyssinia Road, Bennerley Road, Cairns Road, Mallinson Road, Salcott Road and Shelgate Road.
