Edward Allworthy Armstrong (8 October 1900 – 19 December 1978) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

and

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

man. Edward Allworthy Armstrong was born at Corlea, Lowwood,

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

on 8 October 1900, the younger child and only son of Hamilton Armstrong, manufacturer's agent, and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Susan. He was educated at the

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today ...

and then at Queen's University, Belfast, studying science in his first year then switching to philosophy, obtaining a BA (hons) in 1921. In preparation for ordination in the Anglican Church he then studied theology at

Ridley Hall, Cambridge Ridley Hall is a theological college located on the corner of Sidgwick Avenue and Ridley Hall Road in Cambridge (United Kingdom), which trains men and women intending to take Holy Orders as deacon or priest of the Church of England, and members ...

. He later studied anthropology and Chinese at

Hong Kong University The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...

and obtained an MA in the history and philosophy of religion and in Chinese studies from

Leeds University The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed ...

. As a young priest he travelled widely, serving in parishes in Doncaster, Ipswich, Hong Kong, and Leeds before settling in Cambridge in 1943 where he lived for the rest of his life. He married Eunice Joan Uttley in 1940, and had two sons. He died in December 1978. As an ornithologist, he was known for his study of bird behaviour and his intensive study of the

wren Wrens are a family, Troglodytidae, of small brown passerine birds. The family includes 96 species and is divided into 19 genera. All species are restricted to the New World except for the Eurasian wren that is widely distributed in the Old Worl ...

(''Troglodytes troglodytes''). He travelled to many islands - including the

Shetland Islands Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the Uni ...

, Iceland, and St Kilda - to study the wren. In the 1960s he travelled to East Africa to study and to record 'duetting' in birds. He published a number of ornithological texts including ''Birds of the Grey Wind'' (1940), ''Bird display and behaviour'' (1942), ''The Way Birds Live'' (1943), the

New Naturalist The New Naturalist Library (also known as ''The New Naturalists'') is a series of books published by Collins in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Br ...

monograph ''The Wren'' (1955), ''The folklore of birds: an enquiry into the origin and distribution of some magico-religious traditions'' (1958), ''The Study of Bird Song'' (1963) and ''The Life and Lore of the Bird'' (1975). He also published two theological works books related to his work as a priest, ''The Gospel Parables'' (1967) and ''Saint Francis: Nature Mystic ''(1973), and a book which was initially intended as an assessment of how good a naturalist Shakespeare was, ''Shakespeare’s imagination: A study of the psychology of association and inspiration'' (1946). He eventually demonstrated that Shakespeare was no naturalist at all! He was awarded the Burroughs Medal in the United States in 1942 for his book about his childhood in Ireland, ''Birds of the Grey Wind''. In 1951 he became a Corresponding Fellow of the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

and received an honorary MA from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. In 1952 he became a member of

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

. In 1959 he received the Special Union Gold Medal of the British Ornithologists’ Union on the occasion of that organisation's Centenary celebrations. He was Vice President of the British Ornithologists’ Union from 1963 to 1965. In 1966 he received the Stamford Raffles Award of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

for ‘distinguished contributions to ornithology’.

References

*Armstrong, P.H. (2000). ''The English Parson-Naturalist: A Companionship Between Science and Religion''. Leominster : Gracewing. *Armstrong, P. H. (2011). ''He Shall arise at the Voice of a Bird'', Nedlands, Interdisciplinary Creations. *Palmer, R. S. (1980). Obituary. ''The Auk''. 97: 922-923 *Simmons, K. E. L. (2011). Armstrong, Edward Allworthy. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Available at http://www.oxforddnb.com/ ccessed 18 October 2011 *Thorpe, W. H. (1979) Obituaries: Rev. Edward Allworthy Armstrong. ''IBIS''. 121: 369-371 {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Edward Allworthy 1900 births 1978 deaths British ornithological writers John Burroughs Medal recipients Alumni of Ridley Hall, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Alumni of the University of Leeds Christian clergy from Belfast Jesus College, Cambridge People educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution Alumni of Queen's University Belfast 20th-century Church of England clergy Parson-naturalists New Naturalist writers 20th-century British zoologists British male writers Writers from Belfast Scientists from Belfast 20th-century British non-fiction writers British male non-fiction writers