Edward Ashmore

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Beckwith Ashmore, (11 December 1919 – 28 April 2016) was a senior Royal Navy officer. He saw active service in the Second World War and later commanded two frigates before achieving high command in the Navy. He served as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in the mid-1970s and in that role he advised the incoming Labour government on a major defence review and on the implications of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. He went on to be acting Chief of the Defence Staff, serving briefly in a caretaker capacity following the death of his predecessor.

Naval career Born the son of Vice Admiral Leslie Haliburton Ashmore by his marriage to Tamara Vasilevna Schutt, and brother of Vice Admiral Sir Peter Ashmore, who was the Master of the Household to HM the Queen from 1973 to 1986, Ashmore was educated at various schools including Yardley Court in Kent and then at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. He joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in September 1933 and was posted to the cruiser in May 1937 and then, having been promoted to midshipman, to the battleship in September 1937.

Ashmore was posted to the destroyer in January 1940, early in the Second World War, and saw action during the Norwegian Campaign. In August 1942 he went to Russia to help evacuate the survivors of the ill-fated Convoy PQ 17. In that capacity he experienced a Kamikaze air attack in July 1945 and observed the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on in September 1945. He was mentioned in despatches for distinguished service in the Far East on 11 June 1946.

After the war Ashmore qualified as a Russian interpreter and became Assistant Naval Attache in Moscow in 1946. he attended the Royal Naval Staff College in 1949. was posted to the Admiralty as Assistant Director (Communications) in the Radio Equipment Department. He attended the Joint Service Staff College before becoming Chief Signals Officer at the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Northern Europe in Oslo. and promoted to rear admiral on appointment as Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Signals) on 7 January 1965. Appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1966 Birthday Honours, he became Flag Officer Second in Command Far East Fleet based in Singapore in April 1967. he went on to be Vice Chief of the Naval Staff in December 1968 he was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1971 New Year Honours. He became the last Commander-in-Chief Western Fleet in September 1971 and then the first Commander-in-Chief Fleet and NATO Commander-in-Chief, Channel and Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic, as a result of the amalgamation of the Far East Fleet and the Western Fleet into the a single Fleet Command in November 1971.

Ashmore became First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff on 1 March 1974. In that role he advised the incoming Labour Government on a major defence review and on the implications of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974. and was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff that month serving in a caretaker capacity (following the death of his predecessor) before retiring at the end of August 1977. He described his interests as the "usual". Ashmore died in April 2016 aged 96.