EDWARD HARRIS ARMITAGE

He pursued his studies at Guy's Hospital Medical College and at Cambridge. His M.R.C.S. (Member Royal College of Surgeons) and L.R.C.P. (Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians) were both received in 1884. In 1893 Dr. Armitage was granted a diploma of Public Health from Cambridge University and his M.D. was granted by the University of Durham in 1902. Postgraduate studies in London followed later.

Arriving in Honolulu in June, 1893, aboard the "S.S.Alameda", Dr. Armitage came to take the place of Dr. Dugald Campbell at Waimea, Kauai, while the latter was away. On Dr. Campbell's return, Dr. Armitage had decided to locate permanently in the Islands, and by April, 1894, he had established an office in Honolulu. A few months later the position of government physician at Wailuku became vacant on the resignation of Dr. George Herbert, and Dr. Armitage accepted the post and moved to Maui where he was to remain for some 12 years.

During the cholera plague of 1895, Dr. Armitage was a member of the Maui "plague committee" appointed by the Board of Health. That same year, a petition signed by 185 Hawaiians was sent to the Board of Health asking for his dismissal from the government job on the grounds that he refused to treat the poor. The doctor denied the charges and claimed that the personal enmity of one of the plantation managers was responsible for the complaints. After some deliberation, the Board of Health asked for his resignation and appointed Dr. J.H. Raymond in his place. As a result, Dr. Armitage was somewhat less than friendly with his successor, and when he found Dr. Raymond paying a social call on one of his patients, he brusquely requested that he be left alone with his patient. This led to a sharp exchange of words between the two men. Later the same evening, Dr. Armitage went to Dr. Raymond's residence and threatened to thrash him unless he apologized. Dr. Raymond tried to settle matters amiably, but Dr. Armitage kept threatening him and, when the latter appeared to be reaching for his whip, Dr. Raymond struck him and several blows were exchanged. The bout ended with Dr. Armitage being knocked into a flower bed and being put under bond to preserve the peace.

Notwithstanding all this, Dr. Armitage was in great demand socially. Not only was he an eligible bachelor but he was musically inclined and noted for his lively wit. In 1897 he was elected president of the Fifteen Club, which is simply described as "an organization for the smart set of Wailuku". He helped to arrange the entertainment at the dance given in honor of Queen Victoria's birthday in 1899 at Wailuku; was, on one occasion, one of the judges to award prizes for the best costumes at a masquerade ball; and hosted some notable parties of his own.

Early in 1901 the doctor made an extended visit to England which took him away for about 16 months. Leaving Maui in December, 1905, Dr. Armitage moved to Honolulu where he went into practice with a fellow Englishman, Dr. F.H. Humphries. In 1907 he returned to Waimea, Kauai, where he began his Island practice, to cover for Dr. Sandow during his absence. After three months in Waimea, Dr. Armitage took a trip to Japan and was gone for several months. On his return the doctor went into solo practice, opening his office in Honolulu in March, 1908. In April, 1910, he was appointed by the Board of Health as government physician for the West Kau district of Hawaii at a salary of $37.50 per month. He located in Hilo where he carried on a private practice as well as caring for the medical needs of his district.

Dr. Armitage died on June 29, 1914, in Hilo at the age of 56.

The doctor was very active in the work of the Hawaiian Territorial Medical Society, serving as vice-president in 1905 and as a member of the executive committee the following year. During the years he read a number of papers before the Society and was well known for the wit and humor of his after dinner speeches. He also contributed articles to the "Lancet" and other medical journals and was a linguist of great ability. He was also a member of the Sons of St. George.

Dr. E.S. Goodhue, who was one of Dr. Armitage's few real friends, wrote a most revealing biographical sketch of the doctor which was published in the "Advertiser" of July 12, 1914, from which the following is taken:

"Dr. Armitage was a good physician, but an unsuccessful practitioner, though I have personal knowledge of his good judgment and careful methods in the treatment of patients under his care.

With an original mind richly stored by good observing and discriminating study, he combined a really kind and friendly nature. The genial comraderie, however, was modified by his English training, and by a personal pride which he struggled against and which he latterly overcame to some extent.

He was constituted to be lonesome in the midst of his friends, and his fine contempt for money was one of his most splendid qualities.

Though he cultivated an appreciation of American things and people, he was naturally repelled by our unrestrained enthusiam, loudness and utilitarian effort.

The tang of Democracy did not suit his palate, and one of the anamolous things about his life was that he should have chosen to live in a country which shocked him daily when he could have been successful elsewhere. Perhaps it was impossible to be intimate with him. Some of the most admirable men have been impossible associates. And one of the saddest ironies of life is that such men, though intrinsically friendly, companionable, generous, though yearning for the touch of human sympathy and association, never get it, but are left in the midst of life as isolated as some rock in a waste of waters."

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