Edward Ashmore, British officer in the Royal Navy, First Sea Lord, Died at 96

  Military

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Beckwith Ashmore was born on December 11, 1919, and died on April 28, 2016.

He was a senior Royal Navy officer.

Sir Edward Ashmore saw active service in the Second World War and later commanded two frigates before achieving high command in the Navy.

Edward served as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in the mid-1970s and in that position he advised the incoming Labour government on a major defence review and on the implications of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

Ashmore went on to be Chief of the Defence Staff, serving briefly in a caretaker capacity following the death of his predecessor.

When he had retired, he became a Director of Racal Electronics and a Governor of Suttons Hospital in London and the Chairman of the Royal Navy Club of 1765 & 1785.

Ashmore married In 1942, to Elizabeth Mary Doveton Sturdee, daughter of Rear Admiral Sir Lionel Sturdee.

The couple had one son and two daughters, one of the couple’s daughter died in the Hither Green rail crash.

Edward Ashmore passed away at 96 yrs old.