Select Armstrong Miscellany
- Johnnie Armstrong
- The Ghost of Archie Armstrong
- Thomas Armstrong the Customs Officer
- John McIntyre Armstrong and the Founding of Kansas City
- Alexander Armstrong and the NW Passage
- The Armstrong Hotel in Fort Collins, Colorado
- Reader Feedback - Adam Armstroong in Western Australia
- Warwick Armstrong and the 1921 Australian Cricket Team
Johnnie Armstrong
The Armstrong relationship with the Scottish kings was turbulent to say the least. The most notorious event in this uneasy relationship occurred in 1530. Johnnie Armstrong, known in history as "Gilnockie," was persuaded to attend a meeting at Carlinrigg with King James V who, unknown to Gilnockie, had the malicious intent of silencing the rebellious borderers. The ruse succeeeded as Gilnockie and fifty followers were captured. The royal order to hang them was issued and, despite several pleas for the king to be lenient in exchange for obedience, it was carried out.
Defiant to the last, Gilnockie was said to have uttered these words directly to the king.
His defiance is commemmorated and echoed in the soulful popular border ballad, "Johnnie Armstrong."
Where on Esk side thou standest stout!
Gif I had lived but seven years mair
I wad a gilt thee round about John
Murdered was at Carlinrigg
And all his gallant companie;
But Scotland's heart was ne'er sae wae
To see sae many brave men die."
The Ghost of Archie
Armstrong
Haughton castle by the north Tyne in Northumberland dates from the 14th
century and was reputed to be haunted by Archie, a notorious clan chief
of the Armstrong family who was imprisoned there during the reign of
Henry VIII.
Thomas Swinburne had captured Armstrong and imprisoned him in the
dungeon, but forgot to leave instructions for the provision of food and
water. He returned some days later only to find Armstrong dead on
the floor. It was a horrifying sight. Armstrong had gnawed
at the flesh in his own arm in his desperation.
For many years the ghost of Armstrong had haunted the castle until it
was exorcised by a local vicar, using a black lettered
Bible. The ghost did return for a short time when the Bible
was taken to London for binding. But on its return the ghost was
rarely seen again.
Thomas Armstrong the Customs Officer
Cullercoats is a hamlet on the northeast coastline of England, near Newcastle, where the residents in the 18th century made their living from the sea. Some of them took up smuggling. And Thomas Armstrong was the commander of the Bridlington, the customs vessel that was used to intercept these smugglers.
This Thomas was a slippery cat, as a dig through the public records of the time has revealed. He first fell foul of the authorities in 1771 when he was charged and convicted of permitting smugglers to escape and then giving a false account of the goods that he had allegedly seized. Inspection of the books showed at least five previous occasions when he was under investigation or complaint. One alluded also to fraud. This time family influence in the area seems to have saved Thomas's neck.
The final straw came in 1776 when Thomas and his associates deliberately allowed two notorious smugglers to escape from their care. The incident was recorded with great clarity in the customs book. After a recital of the crime, a letter from London concluded that Thomas should be dismissed from the service.
He was evidently wealthy beyond his customs pay, being able to purchase land at Cullercoats and build a house, the Cliff House, overlooking the sea. His secret life of crime helped to explain some of the unique architectural features of this house - iron cages in the cellar and a secret passage accessed by a trapdoor in his study that led down through the cliff onto a small beach. Much of his wealth must have come from a protection racket he operated with the smugglers.
After his dismissal, Thomas had accumulated enough money to start trading as a goldsmith. Yet his love of the sea remained and he bequeathed shares in the ship he was building to his sons.
John McIntyre Armstrong and the Founding of Kansas City
The settlement of Wyandot City was
not at first like new settlements are usually, one or two individuals
making improvements which serve as a nucleus for a future town. A
nation of about seven hundred people, the Wyandots, came from the
Sandusky river in Ohio and, not finding the lands promised to them by
the US Government in lieu of lands they had ceded, they then purchased
thirty six sections of land of the Delawares, lying between the Kansas
and Missouri rivers.
John McIntyre Armstrong is said to have been the first of
the Wyandots to erect a dwelling, although he was only a few days in
advance of others in completing it. Built of logs, it was
occupied by the Armstrong family until 1847. A more imposing
residence was then built among forest trees on the sloping hillside and
for many years this house served as the center of culture and religious
influence in the community.
While John McIntyre Armstrong was a man of education, his
wife Lucy Armstrong - the daughter of the Rev. Russell Biglow, an early
methodist missionary preacher in Ohio - was a Christian woman of
refinement and influence.
Alexander Armstrong and the NW Passage
Alexander Armstrong sailed the Arctic on HMS Investigator in search of the
lost explorer Sir John Franklin. Armstrong's account of the voyage, Personal Narrative of the Discovery of the
NW Passage, was published in London in 1857.
A reviewer commented:
The Armstrong
Hotel in Fort Collins, Colorado
Like many of Old Town Fort Collins' buildings, the Armstrong Hotel has
a long and curious history. Of the dozens of historic hotels that
graced downtown, it was the last to open; and the only one still
operating today. In 1923, Charles and Carolyn Mantz opened the
original Armstrong Hotel and named it after Carolyn's deceased father,
Andrew Armstrong, whose house had once stood on the property.
When it opened, the hotel was the tallest building in
town, boasting two elegant dining halls, 41 guest rooms, and various
retail shops. The hotel was advertised as the ideal location from
which to tour the Poudre Canyon and the Rocky Mountain National Park.
Reader Feedback - Adam
Armstrong in Western Australia
Adam Armstrong and his children arrived at Clarence in
Western Australia on the Gilmour
on December 15, 1829. Adam was born in Dalkeith in Scotland and hence
named the area of land allotted to him on the shores of the Swan river
as the suburb of Dalkeith in Perth. Today
this area is renowned as one of the richest suburbs of Perth. I
am a descendant of Adam Armstrong.
Joy Harding (joyhar@westnet.com.au)
Warwick Armstrong and the 1921 Australian Cricket Team
When international cricket resumed after World War 1, Warwick
Armstrong, then over forty years of age, was appointed captain of the
strong Australian cricket team to tour England in 1921.
Armstrong was a massive man (his tent-like shirt and huge boots can be
found in the Melbourne cricket museum). On the voyage to England,
he attempted to lose weight by spending time each day in the stokehold
of the ship. On arrival, he weighed in four pounds heavier!
Throughout the tour, he fought a series of running battles against the
Australian Board manager, Syd Smith, on behalf of his men. Smith,
looking to cut overheads, had suggested boarding with wealthy cricket
devotees. Armstrong refused.
The Australians dominated the cricket series against England.
They soon led 3-0 in the five match rubber, thanks in large part to the
fast bowling by Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald. The series was
thus won. Towards the end of the last match, Armstrong decided to rest
his key bowlers and allowed his part-time bowlers to rotate as they
pleased. He went to the outfield, sat down, picked up a newspaper
that had been blown across the field, and began to read. When
asked about the matter later, he was said to have replied, "I just
wanted to see who we were playing."
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