In 1901 the Armstrong family were living at 72 Watergate, Perth.

Head of the household, William senior, was a Garment Dyer - he and his wife Kate had three children, all boys. At the time of the 1901 census, David was the youngest being relatively new born, James was the middle-son, aged two and the oldest of the boys was William, who'd been born in 1897.  Also living at this address was Jessie Cameron, a 19-year-old Perth girl who worked as a Jute Spinner. 

William Armstrong was educated at Perth Academy and he subsequently enlisted with the Scottish Horse (a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army) before transferring to the Machine Gun Corps.

The third Battle of Gaza was fought on the night of the1st/ 2nd of November 1917, between British and Ottoman forces during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War One, and came after the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) victory at the Battle of Beersheba had ended the stalemate in Southern Palestine.

Beginning on the 27th of October, the EEF began a heavy and almost continuous bombardment of Gaza. The EEF’s XXI Corps, holding the Gaza section of the line, had been mostly passive until the night of the 1st/ 2nd of November, when a series of determined night-time assaults were mounted against the Gaza defences. These attacks were only partially successful due to the strength of the garrison.

William Armstrong would have lost his life at some stage of this action. He was just 20 years old.

His passing was reported in the Perthshire Advertiser on the 5th of December 1917:

“Corporal Wm. Armstrong, M.G.C. (20), son of Mr. and Mrs. W. Armstrong, 18 South Street, has been killed in action. He was mobilised with the Scottish Horse at the outbreak of war, and went to Gallipoli, where he was wounded. He afterwards went to Egypt, when he was transferred to the M.G.C. He was well known in Perth, where prior to the war he was employed as an electrical engineer with Messrs Frew and Co. Ltd. A brother, who was a Military Medallist, was killed in action over a year ago.”

Today, Corporal 55975, William Armstrong from the 211th Coy. Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), rests at peace in the Gaza War Cemetery. He is also commemorated on the Perth West Church War Memorial.