Armstrong Family Tree research resources

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Did you know that in the 1881 UK census there were 22892 people with the Armstrong surname? In that year Armstrong was ranked number 145 for popularity in the UK.

"The Armstrongs derive their surname from the following circumstance: an ancient king of Scotland having his horse killed under him in battle, was immediately remounted by Fairbairn his armor-bearer. For this timely assistance the king amply rewarded him with lands on the borders, and to perpetuate the memory of so important a service, as well as the manner in which it was performed (for Fairbairn took the king by the thigh and set him on his saddle), his royal master gave him the appellation of Armstrang, and assigned him for a crest, an armed hand and arm, in the left hand a leg and foot in armor, couped at the thigh, all proper. The chief of the clan in the early part of the sixteenth century was John Armstrong of Gilnockie; he was hung as a freebooter by James V, in 1529. The family have always been noted for their courage and daring. In the Lay of the Last Minstrel, the chief when about to assemble his clans, says to the heralds, "Ye need not go to Liddisdale, For when they see the blazing bale Elliots and Armstrongs never fail." "_{(The origin and signification of Scottish surnames. Clifford Stanley Sims, 1862)}

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"ARMSTRONG. This well-known Border surname the Norman Fortenbras is an instance of a surname assumed from a personal attribute strength of arm. The name was not uncommon in the north of England in the latter half of the thirteenth century, and at a later period the Armstrongs were a numerous and warlike clan in Liddesdale and the Dcbateable Land. Adam Armstrong was pardoned at Carlisle in 1235 for causing the death of another man (Bain, I, 1243), and William Armestrangh' served on an inquisition in the same city in 1274 (ibid., n, 24). In 1328 there is entry of payment of the king's debt to William Armestrang, and in 1342 Richard Harmestrang made a loan to King David n at Calais (ER., i, p. 116, 506). Gilbert Armstrong, steward of the household of David n was ambassador to England in 1363 (APS., i, p. 493). Another (?) Gilbert Armestrang, canon of Moray in 1365, appears again as a witness in 1366 (REM., p. 37; REA., n, p. 58). Alexander Armystrang, Geffrai Armestrang, and Davy Armystrang appear as "borowis" for the earl of Douglas's bounds of the West March in 1398 (Bain, rv, 512). Armstrong of Gilnockie, a noted freebooter, was executed by James v in 1529, and the injustice of this action formed the theme of several popular ballads. Archie Armstrong was the famous jester of James vi; Kinmont Willie, also celebrated in Border ballads, and Christie's Will, both noted freebooters, were also Armstrongs. Mr. Robert Bruce Armstrong in his History of Liddesdale (p. 175) gives twenty-four variants of this name in the singular and twentyone in the plural. In common speech the name is pronounced Armstrang. "_{(The surnames of Scotland. George Fraser Black, 1866-1948)}

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