British Expedition to Abyssinia British Expedition to Abyssinia The British Expedition to Abyssinia was a rescue mission and punitive expedition carried out in 1868 by the armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire. Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia, then often referred to by the anglicized name Theodore, imprisoned several missionaries and two representatives of the British government in an attempt to get the attention of the British government, which had decided against his requests for military assistance. The punitive expedition launched by the British in response required the transportation of a sizable military force hundreds of miles across mountainous terrain lacking
HMS Abyssinia (1870) a faster time than they did. "Abyssinia" remained at anchor in Bombay harbour, other than for occasional brief trips for firing practice, for the whole of her service career. When the Indian Harbour Defence Service was discontinued in 1903, she was sold locally and broken up. HMS Abyssinia (1870) HMS "Abyssinia" was a breastwork monitor ordered, designed and built by J & W Dudgeon specifically for the Bombay Marine for the defence of the harbour at Bombay. She was designed by Sir Edward Reed, and was a smaller version of, and hence a half-sister to, the s and . It