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BereniceUK
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A MASHONALAND PIONEER.
....News reached Harrogate on Saturday afternoon of the death from blackwater fever of Mr. W. Leslie Armstrong, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Armstrong, of Blairgowrie, Harrogate. Mr. W. L. Armstrong, whose death took place on November 30th, at the hospital, Salisbury, Mashonaland, South Africa, had a most succesful career in South Africa. In 1890 he went up with the pioneers who took posession of Mashonaland for the British South Africa Comnpany. He attracted the attention of Dr. Jameson and Mr. Rhodes, and was soon enrolled in the Civil Service. He travelled several times beyond the Zambesi, and was successful with the natives, being, as Mr. F. C. Selous stated of him, "good-tempered and forbearing with them." For three years he was associated with Mr. Selous, and accompanied this famous traveller on many political missions to the native tribes and in engineering work for the Chartered Company. The strange adventures of Mr. Selous and Mr. Armstrong - when for three years they never slept in a bed - are narrated at some length in Mr. Selous's "Travels and Adventures in South-east Africa." Subsequently, though quite a young man, Mr. Armstrong was appointed a native Commissioner, and afterwards a Justice of the Peace for Motokoland, some 130 miles north of Salisbury. During Mr. Armstrong's absence on furlough some two or three years ago his deputy was murdered. Mr. Armstrong was also for a short time native Commissioner and J.P. for one of the Mayoe districts. He took an active part in suppressing the native rebellion in Mashonaland, and was awarded a handsome special grant, together with the medal for conspicuous services. He was well known in Harrogate, and highly respected.
The Leeds Mercury, Monday 31st December 1900
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