Admiral of the Fleet Sir Edward Beckwith Ashmore, GCB, DSC (11 December 1919 – 28 April 2016) was a senior Royal Navy officer.

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.

[6] In that capacity he experienced a Kamikaze air attack in July 1945 and observed the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on USS Missouri in September 1945.

[10] 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.

[13] Appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1966 Birthday Honours,[14] he became Flag Officer Second in Command Far East Fleet based in Singapore in April 1967.

[13] He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 9 February 1977[20] 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.

[13] In retirement he became a Director of Racal Electronics and a Governor of Suttons Hospital in London[1] as well as Chairman of the Royal Navy Club of 1765 & 1785 (United 1889).