The Armstrong Family Tree
Robert
Williams Armstrong was the driving force behind Belleek Pottery’s designs. He was one of the three founders of the
Pottery and was by far the most important of the three in determining the
direction that Belleek’s design and production went. For such an important person, very little is known or documented
about his life and family connections.
This article by Brian Russell contains valuable research on Armstrong’s
family and lays a foundation, which we hope will be built upon, to piece
together the details of his life and work.
Left, a Coat of Arms for the
Armstrong family with the motto “By Force of Arms”
Below, Brian
prepares to give his presentation at the Hull meeting.
I would like to start this
article by giving some background as to how I came to look into Robert Williams
Armstrong family tree. It all started
about three years ago after I gave my talk on the Belleek “diamond” registration
marks, with the aid of Chris Marvell and his little box of tricks! (see
Newsletter Issue 25-1: “The Registered Designs of Belleek Pottery 1868-1884”:
this is available in full on our Website at www.belleek.org.uk)
I
was asked by Brian Scott if I would look into the history of Annie Langley,
Robert Williams Armstrong’s wife. This
was duly performed and I reported my findings… but this only started me
thinking: who where their parents?
What was his father’s name or his mother’s? I asked other group members if they knew, but only drew a blank.
By
talking to authorities on Belleek like Lady Marion Langham and Fergus Cleary
(the present chief designer at the Pottery), I was eventually put in touch with
a certain Beccy Stone. She is Robert
Williams Armstrong’s great great granddaughter and she was most helpful in
supplying me with the information from the Price family records. It is to her that I’m eternally grateful in
providing key information allowing this research to be done.
The Armstrong Line
of descent.
To
start the detailed Family Tree we will be going back to the late 1750’s, to
County Longford where Armstrong’s great grandfather comes from. Predating this, it appears that the
Armstrongs originally came to Ireland in 1620.
The family settled in County Fermanagh and there were seven sons:
Andrew, Edmund (who fought at the Battle of Worcester), Thomas, William,
Robert, Michael and Archibald. I will
not go into detail of each of the sons’ histories as it will take up too much
space (!) but to mention one of the sons in passing; the fifth son, Robert (of
Gallen Priory, Kings Co.). This Robert
Armstrong’s eldest son, John became a Major General in the British Army and
also became Chief Engineer of England: it is clear that the Armstrong family
contained persons of leadership and creative potential.
We
will now jump ahead to the 1750’s and the start of my detailed research. In this research I will give detailed
information only for Robert Williams Armstrong’s direct line of descent. Let’s start with R.W. Armstrong’s great
grandfather. This is generation 1 of
the detailed family tree.
1.
David Armstrong of Ardagwilliam and Clonbroney (these I
would think are Townlands), Granard, County Longford, married Elizabeth,
daughter of Caulfield Woods and Wallis of Drumganna, County Leitrim.
Generation
2: Their Children were:
2.1 James
2.2 Mary
2.3 Francis born 1797-8, died 31st
August 1874 (R.W. Armstrong’s Father)
Francis
Armstrong married twice:
- Katherine
Williams of Longford, born 1800, died 1858.
- Miss
Hornridge, died about 1870.
(You
can see from his first marriage, how the family name “Williams” originated.)
Generation
3: Francis Armstrong had the following children from his first marriage to
Katherine Williams:
3.1
David, married Miss Gale of Abbeyleix.
3.2 A “Roman Catholic”, died in
California.
And
from his second marriage to Miss Hornridge:
3.3 Samuel
3.4 Robert Williams (the
one and only!) (Pictured, right)
3.5 Matilda, born 1826,
died 1888, married Croker Walshe of County Cork.
3.6 Francis Elizabeth, born
1832, died 1911, married William Whitsitt.
(The
name Whitsitt will come up again when we look at the marriage of one of Robert
Williams Armstrong’s children.)
Robert Williams Armstrong himself!
Now
before starting on Robert Williams Armstrong himself, we will look at the
antecedents of Robert William’s wife, Annie Nairn. This involves investigating the Langley family as well as the
Nairn family.
Langley of Coalbrook, County Tipperary and of
Briltas Castle, County Tipperary.
Henry
Langley was lieutenant in Captain Thomas Ash’s troop in Oliver Cromwell’s
army. He went to Ireland in 1649,
obtaining lands in 1655. He was the son
of Deodatus Langley, son of the Reverend William Langley, Rector of Prestwick
and descended from Langleys of Agecraft Hall, Lancashire.
The Nairn line of descent.
The
first traceable Nairn is Robert Nairne, born 1652, later created first Lord
Nairne who married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Preston of Mukkersey. He was an advocate by profession. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London for
adherence to the Stuarts but after the Restoration became a Judge.
(You will note that there was then an “e” on
the end of the name).
In
more recent times, we come to George Nairn son of Nairn of Wigan, born 1799,
died 1850.
George
Nairn married Cecilia Margaret Campbell, born 1791, died 1857.
(Cecilia
died at Oak House Battersea on the 4th June 1857, the Campbells came from Herefordshire, descending from Charles Campbell and
Miss Beaufort who had previously settled in Dublin where Charles had become a
partner in the firm of Graisbery, the King’s printers, from 1782 until 1815)
From
the marriage of George Nairn and Cecilia Margaret Campbell came:
- Annie
Langley Nairn, born 1828, died 28th March 1888
- John
Campbell Nairn, born 1831
Annie
Langley Nairn Armstrong.
I
shall now return to the Armstrong line.
As I have already stated, Robert Williams Armstrong came from his father
Francis’s second marriage. Robert
Williams Armstrong married Annie Langley Nairn on the 31st Oct 1848
at St Marks Church Dublin, they had five children as follows (Generation 4):
4.1 Katherine Cecilia, born
1850; married Mr Elliott had two sons and two daughters.
4.2 Robert William, born 1852,
died 1890, never married (is buried in Belleek alongside his parents)
4.3 Annie Langley Navin, born 2nd
Dec. 1864, died 3rd March 1888 (buried alongside her parents in
Belleek); married James Price (aged 18) on the 19th July 1883 at
Castle Caldwell. At their wedding, the
best man was Walter Price and the bridesmaid was Frances Mary Whitsitt of
Aughterdrum. The Rev. Andrew Elliott
performed the service.
4.4 David, born 1867, emigrated
to Australia where he married twice.
4.5 Samuel, born
1870, married Marian Russell from County Leitrim, emigrated to South Africa.
(It is believed he went to Australia after the death of his wife).
Part of R.W. Armstrong and Annie Nairn’s Marriage Certificate.
Robert
Williams Armstrong died on the 27th January 1884 and an obituary in
the Irish Times of 29th January 1884 is as follows:
“Death of Mr R.W. Armstrong, Architect.
We
much regret to report the death of the above-named gentleman, at Belleek, on
Sunday last. For the promoters of home industries it will be interesting to
know that to Mr Armstrong was due the success of the Belleek pottery now in
vogue for about a quarter of a century in Fermanagh. The deceased gentleman was of Irish birth but went to London to
practise his profession as architect.
From the midst of a most promising career, he was induced by Mr
Bloomfield, the landlord of Belleek, to come to this country to construct the
pottery, and to add his artistic talents to the factory. Up to almost his last
days, he was still engaged in his scientific researches. Dying at the comparatively early age of 59,
he is much regretted by the neighbourhood at large.”
Robert Williams and Annie’s eldest daughter
Katherine Cecilia was probably born during Armstrong’s time in London. She married a local peasant farmer James
Elliott on the 28th October 1873 at Donegal town, this was not
approved of by her father who disowned her - refusing to talk to his daughter
for the remainder of his life. Her
mother, Annie, did however keep in touch with her.
Finally, to bring the Armstrong line of descent
up to the present day, I would like to return to the marriage of Annie Langley
Navin Armstrong to James Price. They
had three children as follows (generation 5):
5.1 Anne Ruth Price, born 15th
Feb 1888, died 7th Aug 1968, buried Redford Cemetery, Greystones, Wicklow
5.2 James Price, born 23rd
Mar 1886, died 26th April 1967, buried 1st May 1967
Farnham, Surrey
5.3 Eileen Price, born 29th
June 1884.
Annie
Langley Navin died on the 3rd March 1888, 25 days before her mother
who died on the 28th March.
Both of them both were buried in the family plot at Belleek.
James Price, married twice, firstly to Elizabeth
Gaussen (one son Charles – generation 6), secondly to Lillian Henrietta Louisa
Chermside (no issue). The Gaussen
family came from County Derry, dating back to 1754.
My excellent contact, Beccy Stone is the
daughter of this Charles Price, the seventh generation of this detailed family
tree, the granddaughter of James Price.
This makes her the great great granddaughter of Robert Williams
Armstrong and Annie Langley Nairn.
I
would like, once again, to thank Beccy Stone, who kindly sent me a copy of the
Marriage Certificate and supplied the vital information about the Price line of
descent. I have certainly had a lot of
pleasure in compiling this family tree, talking about it, explaining who was
who, who was connected to whom and so on!
In his presentation at the Hull meeting, Brian presented the Family Tree in full diagrammatic form (as can be seen in the picture on the left here). If you would like more information, please contact Brian Russell directly via the UK Belleek collectors’ Group email at research@belleek.org.uk
- Brian
Russell.
Robert Armstrong’s Signature on the British
Registration document for the Artichoke Teaware patterns, 1868.
“Robt. W Armstrong
Invenit
Rose Isle Belleek
Octbr. 1868.”
Go to Belleek UK Group Website
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