William Armstrong (1804 – ) was an English concert hall songwriter and performer from Newcastle upon Tyne. His most famous song is probably The Newcassel Worthies.
William Armstrong was born around 1804 in Painter Heugh [1] in Newcastle. His father was a shoemaker owning a business in Dean Street.
William himself was apprenticed to a Mr Wardle, a painter of White Cross (the site of a previous market cross dating from 400–500 years previous) in Newgate Street. After his apprenticeship he worked as a
journeyman. (It is not known whether he actual achieved the degree of "master" in his trade).
He was admired as the singer "Willie Armstrong" as well as being appreciated as a songwriter, and was known as a performer who enjoyed singing his own songs.
He moved to London around 1833-34 after which, very little is known of him or his life.
Many of his songs were of the times, of the Colliers and the Keelboatmen, or humorous occurrences.
Taken as a whole, the collection of songs become a social history of the times as well as a feast of dialect materials
Some of the publications containing his works are :--
The following is a list of some of his songs: