Clan Armstrong

also Armstrang

Strong-of-arm, the most feared of the Border riding clans.

Origin: The Borders, Scotland
Motto: Invictus maneo
Famous bearer: Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie (d.1530), Border reiver chief, hanged at Carlanrig
Register: Scottish clan

Territory of Armstrong

CoreHistoric reach

The seat of Clan Armstrong

Seat vacant

Chief

No one leads the Clan Armstrong community yet. When the movement opens, you can stand for its leadership, or help elect whoever does.

Current mission

No shared goal set yet. Once Clan Armstrong has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.

The Armstrong clan is being rebuilt. Join the waiting list for the movement today, and you help decide who leads it and what it does.

Help rebuild the Armstrong clan →

Motto

Invictus maneo

“I remain unvanquished”

What does the Armstrong name mean?

The history of Clan Armstrong

Clan Armstrong was the most numerous and the most feared of the Border riding clans, holding Liddesdale and the surrounding Debatable Land, the no-man's-strip between Scotland and England, ungovernable for two and a half centuries until the Union of the Crowns. By the early 16th century the chief Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie could put three thousand horsemen in the saddle, took protection money from Cumberland gentlemen, and ran an empire of cattle-reiving from Carlisle to Dumfries.

James V, on a Border progress in 1530, summoned Johnnie to a hunting party at Carlanrig in Teviothead, took him by trickery, and hanged him and forty-eight of his men from the trees there. The grave is still marked. The hanging broke the political weight of the clan; the riding tradition continued.

After the Union of the Crowns in 1603 James VI cleared the Borders systematically, 'Middle Shires' policy, mass executions, transportations to Ireland (the Ulster Plantation absorbed many Armstrong families), conscriptions to the Continental wars. The Armstrongs were dispersed across the Border country, into Ulster, into Northumbria, and ultimately around the world. Neil Armstrong (1930–2012), the first man to walk on the Moon, descended from a Borders-Armstrong line that had emigrated to Pennsylvania in the 1730s. His footprint, the family liked to point out, stayed put. Most Armstrongs do not.

Champions of the Armstrong name

The bearers whose lives are inseparable from this surname. Each has its own page — biography, achievements, geography, connection to the family.

Neil Armstrong
The Wapakoneta boy of Border-Scots ancestry who flew his first aeroplane at fifteen and stepped onto the Moon at thirty-eight.

Notable bearers of the Armstrong name

Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie (d.1530), Border reiver chief, hanged at Carlanrig
Neil Armstrong (1930–2012), first man on the Moon

Stories of Clan Armstrong

The hanging at Carlanrig
1530
In the summer of 1530, James V of Scotland was eighteen years old, recently emerged from his minority and the Douglas tutelage, and intent on showing the Border country that the Scottish crown's writ ran to the West March. He sent a king's letter of safe conduct to Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie, the most powerful reiver chief between Solway and Liddel, inviting him to a royal hunt at Carlanrig in Teviothead. Armstrong came as for a court, in livery, with thirty-six of his best riders and silver-mounted bridles. The king ordered them seized as they dismounted. Forty-eight Armstrongs were hanged from the trees at Carlanrig that afternoon. The ballad that came out of it is one of the central pieces of the Border tradition.
Read the story →

Frequently asked

What does the surname Armstrong mean?

From the Anglo-Saxon descriptive byname 'Armstrang', strong of arm. Tradition holds the name was conferred on a Northumbrian retainer named Fairbairn who lifted his unhorsed king back into the saddle by main strength; the king, the story goes, granted him lands across the West March and the new name to go with them. The trace history is firmer than the founding legend: the Armstrongs are documented in the Liddesdale by the late 13th century. Clan Armstrong was the most numerous and the most feared of the Border riding clans, holding Liddesdale and the surrounding Debatable Land, the no-man's-strip between Scotland and England, ungovernable for two and a half centuries until the Union of the Crowns.

Where does the Armstrong family come from?

The Armstrong family is rooted in The Borders, in Scotland. Within that, the name was particularly concentrated in The Borders. The atlas page for the name records the historical territory it has held over the centuries.

Where did the Armstrong family historically hold territory?

At its greatest historical extent, the Armstrong name has been concentrated in Galloway and Midlothian. The atlas page distinguishes the core territory of the name from this wider historical reach with hatched silhouettes on the map.

Is Armstrong a Scotland surname?

Yes, Armstrong is a Scotland surname. Its editorial home in this atlas is Scotland, where the historical territory and family record of the name are concentrated.

How old is the Armstrong surname?

Clan Armstrong was the most numerous and the most feared of the Border riding clans, holding Liddesdale and the surrounding Debatable Land, the no-man's-strip between Scotland and England, ungovernable for two and a half centuries until the Union of the Crowns. European hereditary surnames crystallised broadly between the 12th and 14th centuries, and the Armstrong name took its modern form within that long settlement.

What is the Armstrong family known for?

Strong-of-arm, the most feared of the Border riding clans. Clan Armstrong was the most numerous and the most feared of the Border riding clans, holding Liddesdale and the surrounding Debatable Land, the no-man's-strip between Scotland and England, ungovernable for two and a half centuries until the Union of the Crowns.

What is the Armstrong motto?

The motto of the Armstrong family is "Invictus maneo", which translates as "I remain unvanquished". Family mottoes were registered with the chief of the name and carried on the heraldic arms and battle-banners.

What does "Invictus maneo" mean in English?

"Invictus maneo" is the motto of the Armstrong family. In English it means "I remain unvanquished". The phrase is typically rendered in Latin, though some Highland families carry their motto in Gaelic and some Norman lines in Old French.

Who is the most famous Armstrong?

The best-known bearer of the Armstrong name is Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie (d.1530), Border reiver chief, hanged at Carlanrig. Other prominent figures of the family include Neil Armstrong (1930–2012), first man on the Moon.

Who are some famous Armstrongs?

Notable bearers of the Armstrong name include Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie (d.1530), Border reiver chief, hanged at Carlanrig and Neil Armstrong (1930–2012), first man on the Moon. Each is profiled on the family page, with cross-links to the geography, stories, and historical events tied to their life.

What stories are told about the Armstrong family?

The Armstrong family is associated with The hanging at Carlanrig. Each story has its own page on this site with the full account, the date, the location, and the other families involved.

What is the story of the hanging at Carlanrig?

In the summer of 1530, James V of Scotland was eighteen years old, recently emerged from his minority and the Douglas tutelage, and intent on showing the Border country that the Scottish crown's writ ran to the West March. He sent a king's letter of safe conduct to Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie, the most powerful reiver chief between Solway and Liddel, inviting him to a royal hunt at Carlanrig in Teviothead. The event is dated to 1530.

Is Armstrang the same family as Armstrong?

Yes. Armstrang is a historical spelling variant of the Armstrong name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Where is the Armstrong surname found today?

Scotland is the primary historical home of the Armstrong surname. In the modern era, the name is also borne across the wider diaspora, particularly in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where families carry the line of descent from the same Scotland origin recorded on this page.

What does the Clan Rising page for the Armstrong family cover?

The Clan Rising page for the Armstrong family covers the meaning of the surname, the historical geography of the name, the family motto, famous bearers of the name, traditional stories and the seat of the head of the family. Each section is linked to the underlying atlas of Scotland so the name can be read in the geography that shaped it.

Who is the head of the Armstrong family today?

The seat for the head of the Armstrong family is currently vacant on this register. Clan Rising is rebuilding the chief and family structure for the modern era, and the family page allows readers to claim the seat or pledge to the name.

A note from the editors

Cross-border with England: the Armstrongs spilled into Cumberland and Northumbria. The England catalogue will surface this entry alongside the Scottish home.

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