Ronald Armstrong-Jones

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

The only son of Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones, he was educated at Eton and on graduating from Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1922, he became a barrister in the Inner Temple. During World War I, he was a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Regiment of Artillery and a Major in the King's Royal Rifle Corps during World War II; he was invalided in 1945 after serving as Deputy Judge Advocate to Montgomery's staff at Normandy. From 1955-59, he was a member of the Industrial Disputes Tribunal and a sometime Governor of St Bartholomew's Hospital and a member of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers.

He was appointed High Sheriff of Caernarvonshire for 1936.^[1]

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

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