H is for Henry-Henry Armitstead

Henry was a very interesting fellow.

He was the second born son of George Mawson and Jane Armitstead and was born 18th August 1875 in Bury Lancashire. In 1891 (from the English census) he was a maker up at the paper mill. From 1896 to 1900 he was at Owens College, Manchester studying for a science degree. Unfortunately he failed in 1899 so had to repeat in 1900. He studied Chemistry, Mathematics and Geology.  He was Assistant Master under Leeds School Board, 1899-1900  at Radcliffe Bridge Schools and in 1900 was a Physics Demonstrator, School of Science, Llanelly. At the 1901 census on 31st March he was living with his parents at 35 Dumers Lane  and working as a school science master. From 1901 to 1906 he was a  lecturer in Physics, Presidency College,5, Humayoon Place, Calcutta, India. No records  of his mode of travel to India have been found so far ( probably too far to swim).
In 1908 he had a book published

Practical & Theoretical Geometry for Schools.  H Armitstead, B Sc  Prizeman, Victoria University of Manchester and Temporary Professor of Mathematics, The Presidency College Calcutta.
Published by Longmans, Green, and Co.
39 Paternoster Row, London
New York, Bombay and Calcutta 1908


From India he somehow got to China ( probably didn't swim) and then travelled on the Empress of China from Hong Kong to Vancouver Canada. On 29th May 1909 the US Border Crossing papers list  his last permanent residence as Calcutta India.
Off he went again and must have travelled across the US as he left the USA from New York  on the SS Cedric bound for Liverpool and arrived on  23rd June 1909. As his brother George Mawson Armitstead lived in Massachusetts I guess he visited his family before leaving for England.
This well travelled relative was off again. This time he left Liverpool  on  27th October 1910 for Montreal Canada on the Lake Manitoba of the Canadian Pacific Railway Shipping line.
Again in 1913 he arrived in Quebec Canada on 14th August 1913 from Liverpool and is stamped as a returning person to Canada.
Now the trail goes cold until his death on 16th January 1921 in Bury, Lancashire. His probate was declared and the beneficiary was his sister Florence Crabb. He was buried in the All Saints Graveyard, Stand, Lancashire England.
The family tales of Henry (or Harry as the family called him) being a professor and being in India had been proved at last.