Cornelia Ione Armstrong was born on 5 October 1890 in Sligo. She was Marcus and Rosalie’s second child and eldest daughter.
She was educated at St James’s, West Malvern, a school founded by her mother’s second cousins Alice and Katrine ‘Kitty’ Baird. She was considered the best looking and liveliest of the three girls and loved theatricals, dancing, socialising, fast cars and practical jokes. She was known as Ione, and as Bonham, Bonnie or Charlie. At the start of the war, she was living with her mother and two sisters in a boarding house at 14 Trinity Crescent, Folkestone.
Ione Armstrong aged 3 years and 10 months
Ione Armstrong as a young girl
Ione Armstrong in 1918
St James’s School, West Malvern, Worcestershire
An unusual seating arrangement!
The Armstrongs | Captain Armstrong | Rosalie ‘Muz’ Armstrong | Pat Armstrong | Ione Armstrong | Jess Armstrong | Tommy Armstrong