Thomas Rhodes Armitage (2 April 1824 – 23 October 1890) was a British physician, and founder of the Royal National Institute of Blind People.

His great-grandfather James (1730–1803) bought Farnley Hall from Sir Thomas Danby (of the family of Thomas Danby, first mayor of Leeds) in 1799, and in 1844 four Armitage brothers (including his father) founded the Farnley Ironworks, utilising the coal, iron and fireclay on their estate.

Armitage decided to help make literature available to blind people through embossed type: in Britain this had become complicated by the proliferation of different standards.

His daughter Alice Stanley Armitage continued his work for the National Council for the Blind and drafted its first constitution.

[3] He was married to Harriett Black, and died on 23 October 1890 at Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland, following a riding accident.