C. A. Armstrong

C. A. Armstrong was a soldier serving with the North Lincolnshire Regiment of Foot when the Regiment was posted to the Eastern Frontier of the Cape Colony between 1860 and 1863 shortly after the Xhosa cattle-killing movement and famine (1857-1858). He came to the Cape Colony with the rank of Lieutenant. At first, the Regiment was posted to Grahamstown but was later transferred to Keiskama Hoek (Keiskammahoek) in 1862.

Lieutenant Armstrong acted in four productions during his three-year stay on the Eastern Frontier. Left Port Elizabeth on March 23, 1860. On April 26, 1860, he left Grahamstown for Fort Jackson, arriving there on May 5.

C. A. Armstrong was a member of the Officers of the Regiment, part of the Dramatic Club.

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 14, Keiskama Hoek, December 10, 1862, page 270.)

Contribution to SA theatre

October 8, 1860: Acted in The Officers of the Regiment's first performance of Sheridan's five-act comedy, The Rivals, (Mrs Malaprop).

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 3, Grahamstown, November 1, 1860, page 30.)

April 5, 11 & 19, 1861: Acted in the Officers of the Regiment's second play, Stirling Coyne's one-act farce, Urgent Private Affairs, (Mr Dentatus Dotts, dentist and loyal Hammersmith Volunteer).

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 6, April 25, 1861. Page 75.)

April 5, 11 & 19, 1861: Acted under the stage name of Miss Carteret in the Officers of the Regiment S. E. Yates and N. H. Harrington's one-act farce A Night at Notting Hill. (Mrs Chutney, the Alderman's housekeeper).

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 6, April 25, 1861. Page 75.)

September 9th & 12th, 1861: Acted in the Officers of the Regiment production of Crinoline set in London in 1856. (Miss Tite, a fashionable spinster, aged ?) & (Nancy Bitters, a domestic servant, with an excellent character from her last place, but not so well provided for her next, aged 37).

(North Lincoln Sphinx, Vol 1, No 8, September 30, 1861. Page 108.)