Armstrong, Henry Bruce (1844–1943), politician and lawyer, was born 27 July 1844 at Hull House, Shoulden, Kent, England, second son of William Jones Wright Armstrong, JP, DL, and high sheriff of Co. Armagh, and Frances Armstrong (formerly McCreagh; née Wilson). Educated at Armagh Royal School and Trinity College, Cambridge, from which he graduated MA (1870) and LLB, he was called to the English bar (Inner Temple) in 1868, and practised in England for four years. During this period he also travelled widely in Europe, the East, and the Far East, witnessing the last of the German army leave France after the Franco–German war (1870–71) and acting as a copy carrier for the Daily News while in Metz (1873).
Known principally for his contribution to Ulster politics at local level, Armstrong served as a JP and as high sheriff of Armagh (1875) and Longford (1894), prior to his initial election to Armagh county council (1899–1924), on which he served as chairman 1909–20. As a councillor he was influential in the establishment and subsequent development of the Armagh county museum.
A member of the Irish Convention (1917–18), Armstrong went on to serve briefly as a unionist MP at Westminster, being returned in June 1921 in an uncontested by-election for Mid-Armagh, a constituency that no longer existed when the next UK general election was held in November 1922. He was an original member of the Northern Ireland senate, where he held a seat from 1921 to 1937. Noted for his particular interest in education in Armagh, he was chairman (1921–35) of Co. Armagh education committee and president of the Association of Educational Committees of Northern Ireland. For many years he was a governor and guardian of Armagh county library. He was appointed as lieutenant for Armagh and held the office 1924–39, having already served as vice-lieutenant from 1920. In 1932 he was made a privy counsellor for Northern Ireland, and in 1938 he was appointed a justice for the government of Northern Ireland to act in the absence of the governor. Having served on the QUB senate 1920–37, he received an hon. LLD from the college in 1937. A member of the Representative Body of the Church of Ireland for twenty-five years, he also served on the general synod and on the diocesan council. In his later years he provided financial support for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. He died 4 December 1943 at his home in Dean's Hill, Armagh, in his hundredth year.
He married (1883) Margaret Leader (d. 1936) of Rosnalee, Co. Cork; they had five sons and three daughters.