Herbert Armstrong (cricketer)

Herbert Horace Armstrong (25 October 1862 – 1942) was an English first-class cricketer.

Armstrong was born in October 1862 at Islington to John Armstrong, a salesman, and his wife, Jane.^[1] Moving to Southampton in 1881, he began playing club cricket for Southampton, where he was noted as being one of the club's best batsmen.^[2] Armstrong began playing for Hampshire County Cricket Club in 1882, making his debut in first-class cricket against the Marylebone Cricket Club at Southampton. An all-rounder, he played first-class cricket for Hampshire until the county lost its first-class status in 1885, having made 23 appearances.^[3] In these, he scored 502 runs at an average of 14.34, with a highest score of 68.^[4] With his right-arm medium pace bowling, he took 68 wickets at a bowling average of 20.23; he took two five wicket hauls, with best figures of 7 for 33.^[5] Following the loss of Hampshire's first-class status, he continued to play second-class cricket for the county until 1889.^[6]

Armstrong lived in Southampton until 1889 or 1890, working in a cousin's lamp and oil shop in St. Mary's Street. He married in 1889 and then moved to London to work with his brothers in a wholesale fruit business. He had two children, a boy and a girl and in 1913 returned to Hampshire, where was the proprietor of a wool shop.^[7] Following his death at Bournemouth in the first quarter of 1942, his daughter gave an album of press cuttings and badges to the Hampshire Cricket Museum.^{[citation needed]}