Jezebel,’ in 1865 ‘Esther’s Banquet,’ now in the Diploma Gallery of the Royal Academy, and in 1866 ‘The Remorse of Judas,’ which Armitage presented to the National Gallery, and ‘The Parents of Christ seeking Him,’ which was engraved for the Art Union under the title of ‘Joseph and Mary.’ In 1867 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1872 a full member. During these five years his subjects were varied in character, including ‘Herod’s Birthday Feast,’ now in the Corporation Art Gallery at Guildhall, ‘Hero lighting the Beacon to guide Leander across the Hellespont,’ and ‘A Deputation to Faraday, requesting him to accept the Presidency of the Royal Society.’ The last of these contains portraits of Lord Wrottesley, John Peter Gassiot, and Sir William Grove, and now hangs in the library of the Royal Society. Among the most notable of his subsequent works were: ‘A Dream of Fair Women,’ a design for a frieze in two sections; ‘The Women of the Old Testament’ (1872) and ‘The Women of Ancient Greece’ (1874); ‘In Memory of the great Fire of Chicago, and of the Sympathy shown to the Sufferers by both America and England’ (1872), which was designed for the Town Hall at Chicago, and was bought by the ‘Graphic;’ ‘Julian the Apostate presiding at a Conference of Sectarians’ (1875); and ‘Serf Emancipation: an Anglo-Saxon Noble on his Deathbed gives Freedom to his Slaves,’ now in the Walker Art Gallery at Liverpool (1877).
In 1878 Armitage exhibited ‘After an Entomological Sale, beati possidentes,’ in which he represented himself in a sale room rejoicing over a fresh acquisition for his collection of insects, in company with his friends Calderon, Hodgson, Winkfield, and others. Another of his tastes is reflected in a ‘Yachting Souvenir—Lunch in Mid Channel,’ which was exhibited in 1889. In 1893 he exhibited for the last time, sending ‘A Moslem Doctrinaire’ and a portrait of his brother, ‘The late T. R. Armitage, Esq., M.D., the Friend of the Blind.’
In 1871 he was one of the committee of artists employed in the decoration of Westminster Hall who made a report on fresco painting (see Return to House of Commons, No. 19 of 1872). In 1875 he was appointed professor and lecturer on painting to the Royal Academy. His lectures were published in 1883. Always of independent means, Armitage was able to follow his ideals in art without regard to fashion or profit, and several of his largest works were executed entirely at his own expense. This was the case with the large monochrome frescoes in University Hall, Gordon Square, in memory of Crabb Robinson, comprising portraits of twenty-two men eminent in literature, art, and other professions. The figures are over life-size, and the composition twenty yards in length. Figures of saints in Marylebone church, and the reredos (‘Seven Works of Mercy’) in St. Mark’s Church, Hamilton Terrace, St. John’s Wood, were also gifts.
As an artist Armitage took an important part in the movements for the restoration of fresco painting in England, and the decoration of the houses of parliament with historical designs. His early training on the continent and his employment by Delaroche upon a mural painting of a grand character influenced the direction of his art throughout his life. This art was cold, severe, and academic, but always lofty in aim and large in design. Armitage did not confine his interests entirely to art; he was a great collector of butterflies, a keen yachtsman, and very hospitable host, whether afloat or ashore. He passed the board of trade examination for a master’s certificate, and was a fellow of the Geographical Society. He became a ‘retired academician’ about two years before his death, which took place from apoplexy and exhaustion following pneumonia, at Tunbridge Wells, on 24 May 1896, after an illness of about three weeks. He was buried at Brighton. In 1853 he married Laurie, daughter of William and Catherine Barber of Booma, Northumberland.
[Pictures and Drawings by Edward Armitage, R.A. 1898; Cat. of National Gallery (British School); Men of the Time, 1891; obituary notices in Times and other newspapers; Clement and Hutton’s Artists of the Nineteenth Century; private information.]
ARMSTRONG, Sir ALEXANDER (1818–1899), naval medical officer, descended from a family originally of Cumberland, and from Major-general John Armstrong (1673–1742 [q.v.]), was the son of Alexander Armstrong of Croghan Lodge, Fermanagh. He studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin, and at the university of Edinburgh, where he graduated with honours in 1841, and entered the navy as an assistant surgeon in March 1842. After a few months at Haslar Hospital and in the flagship at Portsmouth, he was appointed in June to the Polyphemus, a small steamer in the Mediterranean, and in 1843 was placed in medical charge of a party landed for the exploration of Xanthus. For his scientific observations on this expedition he received the official thanks of the trustees of the British Museum, and by his sanitary arrangements won the approval of the commander-in-chief, who recommended
