Ronald Armstrong-Jones

Major Ronald Armstrong-Jones MBE QC
Personal details
Born	Ronald Owen Lloyd Armstrong-Jones (1899-05-18)18 May 1899
Died	27 January 1966(1966-01-27) (aged 66)
Spouse(s)	Anne Messel (m. 1925; div. 1934) Carol Akhurst (m. 1936; div. 1959) Jenifer Unite (m. 1960)
Children	Susan Vesey, Viscountess Vesci Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon Peregrine Armstrong-Jones
Parents	Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones Margaret Roberts
Alma mater	Eton Magdalen College, Oxford (1922)
Military career
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	c. 1914–1945
Rank	Major
Unit	Royal Regiment of Artillery King's Royal Rifle Corps
Battles/wars	World War I World War II

Major Ronald Owen Lloyd Armstrong-Jones MBE QC (18 May 1899 – 27 January 1966) was a British barrister and soldier and the father of Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon.

The only son of Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones, a psychiatrist, he was educated at Eton, then during the First World War was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the Royal Regiment of Artillery. After the war he continued his education at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating in 1922, then became a barrister in the Inner Temple. During the Second World War he returned to the army and served as a Major in the King's Royal Rifle Corps; he was invalided out in 1945, after serving as Deputy Judge Advocate to Montgomery's staff in Normandy. A liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers, from 1955 to 1959 he was a member of the Industrial Disputes Tribunal. He also served as a Governor of St Bartholomew's Hospital.

In 1936 Armstrong-Jones served as High Sheriff of Caernarvonshire.^[1]

Armstrong-Jones was married three times. Firstly, on 22 July 1925, to Anne Messel (8 February 1902 – July 1992); after having two children, Antony (b. 1930), the brother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II, and Susan (c. 1932–1986) they divorced in 1934, and Anne later married the 6th Earl of Rosse. On 18 June 1936 Armstrong-Jones married secondly Carol Akhurst; they divorced in 1959, and Carol was killed in a car crash in 1966. He married thirdly Jenifer Unite on 11 February 1960 and they had one son, Peregrine Armstrong-Jones (born 1960). Jenifer Unite, an air hostess, was the daughter of Basil Unite, a major fruit importer. Antony Armstrong-Jones attended his father's last wedding.

References