1869-1943
Coal agent
Clement was very involved in community activities:
- President of the Eskdale & Liddesdale Archaeological Society.
- President of the Langholm Horticultural Society.
- President of the Eskdale Burns Club.
- Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
His father William was initially a chemist, then also took on a coal and lime agency business. The coal business became predominant and was transferred to Clement in 1905.
In the photo below, Clement is standing fourth from right, with his father fifth from right.
Clement’s uncle James Brown was better known as J B Selkirk (1832-1904), poet and writer whose works include Auld Selkirk Toon, sung at the Selkirk Common Riding.
Clement married Isabella Carlyle, a farmer’s daughter and great-niece of the Victorian author Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) who was born in Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire, 15 miles from Langholm. They had nine children, a number of them dying in childhood.
Clement’s father-in-law John Carlyle farmed at Milnholm, just outside Langholm.
Clement gave a lecture to the E&L Archaeological Society in February 1913, entitled ‘The Borders in the Early Centuries’, published in the E&L Advertiser. Criticism of its content in a letter to the editor (from ‘Historicus’, a pseudonym) set off a heated exchange involving Christopher Grieve (later known as Hugh MacDiarmid), Matthew Welsh (an 81-year old gardener) and Historicus. It is outlined here as part of the topic of Letters to the Editor, illustrating the era’s equivalent to today’s social media spats.
Isabella died in January 1915 and Clement married Ruby Welburn, the daughter of an excise officer, in September of the same year.
In May 1917, at age 48, he joined the 327th Quarrying Company, Royal Engineers, and undertook training in Curragh Camp, Ireland, before being deployed to France. In June, his assets were sequestrated (placed in administration), and sold in July, so perhaps he signed up in response to business troubles.
He had three children with Ruby, the last in 1920.
| Born | Langholm, 1869 |
| Parents | William Armstrong, chemist and coal agent (1835-1907), Agnes Brown (1841-1872) |
| Siblings | 3rd of 2 brothers, 2 sisters (sole survivor past infancy) |
| Marriages | 1) Isabella Carlyle, farmer’s daughter (1869-1915), in 1896 at Milnholm, her father’s farm; 2) Ruby Welburn (1886-1965), in 1915 in Langholm. |
| Children | 12 total: 6 daughters, 3 sons by first wife; 2 sons, 1 daughter by second |
| Died | Glentarras House, Langholm, 1943, aged 74 |