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Robert Armstrong-Jones

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Robert Armstrong-Jones
Robert Armstrong-Jones in 1933
Born
Robert Jones

(1857-12-02)2 December 1857
Ynyscynhaearn, Caernarvonshire, Wales
Died30 January 1943(1943-01-30) (aged 85)
Plas Dinas, Caernarvonshire, Wales
Alma materUniversity of Wales, Bangor
Occupation(s)Physician, psychiatrist
SpouseMargaret Roberts
Children
RelativesAntony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon (grandson)
The grave of Robert Armstrong-Jones and his wife Margaret is on the left. On the right is Ronald Armstrong-Jones's grave.

Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones, CBE JP DL FRCS FRCP FSA (born Robert Jones; 2 December 1857 – 30 January 1943) was a Welsh physician and psychiatrist.

Biography

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He was born in Ynyscynhaearn, Caernarvonshire, the son of Thomas Jones, a Congregational minister and small landed proprietor at Eisteddfa, Criccieth, and Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Jones, of Eisteddfa. He was educated at Porthmadog Grammar School[1] and Grove Park School, Wrexham, going on to study medicine at University of Wales, Bangor, and St. Bartholomew's Hospital.[1] Becoming a specialist in the treatment of mental illness, he worked as a junior medical officer at the Royal Earlswood Institution and Colney Hatch during the 1880s, and became resident physician and superintendent of Earlswood Asylum in 1888. In 1893 he became the first superintendent of the London County Council's Claybury Asylum,[1] where he developed new treatments. In the same year he married Margaret Roberts (1868–1943), the elder daughter of Sir Owen Roberts of Plas Dinas, Caernarfon.[2]

Jones lectured at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and became consulting physician in mental diseases to the military forces at London and Aldershot. In 1913, he assumed the additional surname of Armstrong, which had been the maiden name of his wife's grandmother, Jane née Armstrong,[3] because he wanted to distinguish himself from another prominent Robert Jones of the time.[3] During World War I, he was designated a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps; he was knighted in the 1917 New Year Honours, and after the war he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of his war service. He was appointed High Sheriff of Caernarvonshire for 1929. He was a Fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons.[1]

Armstrong-Jones had one son, Ronald Armstrong-Jones, and two daughters, Elaine Margaret Wauchope (1895–1965) and Gwendolen Jane Buckley (1905–1985), who married Sir Denys Buckley.[4]

Armstrong-Jones died in Plas Dinas at the age of 85.[5] His wife survived him by only four months. Their daughter Elaine married Colonel Charles Wauchup. Armstrong-Jones's son, Ronald, became a barrister, married Anne Messel (firstly) and was the father of Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, the brother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II.[citation needed]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d Cathcart, Helen (1968). Lord Snowdon. London: W.H. Allen. p. 27. ISBN 9780491003810.
  2. ^ "Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones | RCP Museum".
  3. ^ a b Cathcart, Helen (1968). Lord Snowdon. London: W.H. Allen. p. 29. ISBN 9780491003810.
  4. ^ Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 3672. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  5. ^ "Armstrong-Jones, Sir Robert (1857 - 1943)".

References

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