Author: Armstrong, William Henry
Biography:
ARMSTRONG, William Henry (c. 1791-1871: ancestry.co.uk)
Nothing is known about his parentage, birth, or early years. He was said to be eighty at the time of his death in 1871. He joined the army and was in the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion but also served in the 55th Regiment of Foot, purchasing first a lieutenancy and then a captaincy. On 10 Apr. 1822 he married Catherine Josephine Martinez by special license; they had one child, a son, who died in 1844. The marriage was against the consent of her father, Sebastian Gonsalez Martinez, a wealthy Spanish merchant who lived in Euston Square, London. Martinez paid Captain Armstrong’s debts and advised the couple to live quietly in Brighton where he supported them financially. However an 1832 report in the Morning Post stated that Armstrong attacked his father-in-law in Brighton—allegedly punching him and knocking out some teeth when Martinez complained of continued extravagance—and challenged him to a duel. No record of any actual encounter has been found. In 1851 Catherine’s uncertain mental state after the death of her son led to Martinez lodging her, for an annual fee of £900, in a Hampstead home under the care of Charles Lord, surgeon. This move likely had negative financial consequences for Armstrong who unsuccessfully petitioned the Court of Common Pleas to have her released into his care in 1854. Mr. Martinez died in early 1856; his will, proven on 24 Mar. 1856, appointed three trustees to pay monthly instalments of a £2000 annuity to his daughter “free from any interference” from her husband. On 4 Aug. 1857 Armstrong petitioned the Court of Chancery to have his wife declared a lunatic, no doubt believing that a finding of lunacy would ensure his unimpeded access to her fortune. Martinez had anticipated such a move and his will left the money with the trustees not his daughter. Although Catherine was found to be of unsound mind, her counter petition and request for a stay of proceedings eventually led the court to assign her to the care of the two trustees who were not related to her. The 1861 Census shows her continuing to live in Lord’s establishment but by 1871 she was lodged with another surgeon, Henry Jacobs, in Kensington. She died there in early 1877. Armstrong died in Bristol “of a lingering illness” on 3 Sept. 1871 and was buried in Arnos Grove cemetery. His other publications are Vox Populi (1830), A Few Plain and Plausible Hints on the Formation of a Royal Marine Rifle Legion (1835) and a play, Turkish Lovers (1853). His 1832 books reprint poems from Idle Hours. (ancestry.co.uk 22 June 2022; Saunder’s News-Letter 30 Jan. 1822; Morning Post 15 Apr. 1822; Morning Post 10 Nov. 1832; Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser 29 May 1834; Sussex Advertiser 19 Oct. 1847; Morning Herald 12 June 1854; The English Reports: Chancery [1904]; Globe 6 Mar. 1858)
Other Names:
- Caleb
- Captain Armstrong
- W. H. Armstrong