(May 20, 1817 - May 24, 1896) was an English Victorian era painter whose work focussed on historical, classical and biblical subjects. Armitage was born in London to a family of wealthy Yorkshire industrialists, the eldest of seven sons of James Armitage (1793 - 1872) and Anne Elizabeth Armitage nee Rhodes (1788 - 1833), of Farnley Hall, just south of Leeds, Yorkshire. His great-grandfather James (1730 - 1803) bought Farnley Hall from Sir Thomas Danby in 1799 and in 1844 four Armitage brothers, including his father James, founded the Farnley Ironworks, utilising the coal, iron and fireclay on their estate. His brother Thomas Rhodes Armitage (1824 - 1890) founded the Royal National Institute of the Blind. Armitage was the uncle of Robert Armitage (MP), the great-uncle of Robert Selby Armitage, and first cousin twice removed of Edward Leathley Armitage.