Edward Ashmore ( British Army officer ) Major General Edward Bailey Ashmore CB , CMG , MVO ( 20 February 1872 – 5 October 1953 ) was a British Army officer from the 1890s to the 1920s who served in the Royal Artillery , the Royal Flying Corps and briefly in the Royal Air Force before founding and developing the organisation that would become the Royal Observer Corps . Early career . Following graduation from Royal Military Academy , Woolwich , Ashmore was commissioned into the Royal Regiment of Artillery as a Second Lieutenant in 1891 . He was posted to ' Q ' Battery Royal Horse Artillery and served during the Second Boer War in South Africa , being promoted to Lieutenant on 24 July 1894 . Promoted to captain on 13 February 1900 , he was severely wounded at Sanna ' s Post during the relief of Kimberley on 31 March 1900 . In 1904 , Ashmore served as adjutant for the Royal Horse Artillery and attended Staff College , Camberley in January 1906 . Appointed as a staff officer on the Army General Staff . He was promoted to major in April 1909 and was returned to the establishment of the Royal Artillery . He served as a General Staff Officer 3rd Grade ( GSO3 ) on the General Staff ( War Office ) and later as a 2nd Grade ( GSO2 ) . In September 1913 , Ashmore was appointed Assistant Military Secretary to the Inspector - General of the Overseas Forces and General Officer Commanding - in - Chief Mediterranean Command . In January 1914 , he transferred to the special reserve of the Royal Flying Corps ( RFC ) and trained as a pilot . By November 1914 he was commander of 1st Wing RFC with the rank of lieutenant - colonel . The following month he was appointed Officer Commanding Administration Wing RFC . Promoted to brigadier general in January 1916 , he took command of the 1st Brigade RFC . The following April he took up command of the newly established 4th Brigade . He remained attached to RFC Headquarters unit until August 1917 carrying various ranks including Brevet Colonel , Acting Major General , Colonel and Major General . In August 1917 Ashmore was appointed Commander of the London Air Defence Area . When the Royal Flying Corps amalgamated with the Royal Naval Air Service to form the Royal Air Force ( RAF ) in April 1918 , Ashmore still held the rank of Major General . On 19 April 1918 he was re - graded to Air Vice - Marshal until he resigned his RAF commission on 1 December 1919 . Air defence of London . In his later military career , Ashmore was the leading figure in the air defence of the United Kingdom , founding what would eventually become the Royal Observer Corps . He was appointed to devise improved systems of detection , communication and control . A system to be called the Metropolitan Observation Service was created which covered the London area and was known as the London Air Defence Area . This was soon extended towards the coasts of Kent and Essex . The system met with some success and although it was not fully working until late summer 1918 ( the last air raid took place on 19 May ) . The lessons learnt were to provide valuable grounding for later developments . In 1922 , responsibility for air defence was transferred from the War Office , which was responsible for the Army , to the Air Ministry . Ashmore , who had been responsible for matters during the First World War , now reported to a new Air Raid Precautions ( ARP ) committee set up in January 1924 . On 1 March 1924 he became General Officer Commanding of the Territorial Army Air Defence Brigades and Inspector of Regular Anti - Aircraft Defences for Great Britain . Experiments were now carried out around Romney Marsh and the Weald . These were intended to optimise the arrangement of observation posts and control centres . In 1925 these experiments were extended to cover parts of Essex and Hampshire and by October a sound methodology had been worked out . On 29 October 1925 the Observer Corps came into official existence . Within a year four Groups existed in Southeast England , covering much of Kent , Sussex , Hampshire and Essex . The plan was that the country would be covered by 18 of these groups . The involvement and cooperation of the RAF , the Army , the British police forces and the General Post Office ( GPO ) ( then responsible for the national telephone system ) , was required . Ashmore was regarded as the first commander of the Observer Corps in all but name during 1925 and he is deemed to be the Corps ' founder . World War II . During World War II Ashmore raised and commanded a battalion of the Home Guard , by which time he was over 70 years of age . Personal life . Ashmore married Betty Parsons at Holy Trinity Church , Prince Consort Road on 17 July 1919 .