Colonel J.W. Armstrong
(1823-1880)
6 February 1863

Volume 10, page 61, sitting number 12,613.

Colonel James Wells Armstrong of Lisgoole in County Fermanagh was placed on half-pay on 16 October 1860. He was deputy adjutant general from 1 November 1871 to 25 November 1876, and deputy adjutant general for auxiliary forces from 25 November 1876 until his death. He became a member of the Order of the Bath on 2 January 1857.

Lieutenant-General Armstrong died on 12 April 1880 at 38 St George's Square, Pimlico. He was 57 years old.

An obituary appeared in the Illustrated London News (24 April 1880). 'Lieutenant-General James Wells Armstrong, C.B., Deputy-Adjutant-General (Inspector-General of Auxilliary Forces), died at St George's-square, on the 12th inst. Entering the Army, Aug. 18, 1843, he attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel July 17, 1855, and Lieutenant-General Oct. 1, 1877. At the breaking out of the Russian war he was Captain, and on his landing in the Crimea was nominated Brigade Major in the Second Division. He fought at the Alma, at Balaklava, and at Inkerman, and commanded one of the columns of attack on the Quarries, wherein he was twice wounded. For these services he gained two steps in rank and the war medal with four clasps, as well as the Turkish medal, the Legion of Honour, the Medjidie, and the Companionship of the Bath. Shortly after his return, he was given command of a dépôt battalion at Canterbury, afterwards transferred to the Horse Guards as an Assistant Adjutant-General, and finally selected as successor to Sir Garnet Wolseley as Inspector-General of Reserve Forces. General Armstrong was eldest son of the late James Armstrong, Esq., Bengal Civil Service.'