Edmund Osborne

Lieutenant-General Edmund Archibald Osborne, was a British Army officer who commanded II Corps during the Second World War.

Military career

Osborne entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Engineers, British Army, in 1904. He served in the First World War where, in September 1914, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, with the citation reading:
He continued to serve with distinction during the war, being mentioned in despatches eight times.
With the war over in November 1918, in January 1920 he succeeded Brevet Major Bernard Paget as a general staff officer, grade 2 and for which he was promoted to the temporary rank of major while so employed. He then attended the Staff College, Camberley, from 1921 to 1922 and later became commander of the School of Signals in 1926. He went on to be a general staff officer with the 3rd Infantry Division in 1930. Osborne subsequently became commander of the 157th (Highland Light Infantry) Brigade in 1933 and commander of the Cairo Brigade in Egypt in 1934.
Osborne served in the Second World War, initially as General Officer Commanding 44th (Home Counties) Division from April 1938 and then as GOC II Corps from 1940 until he retired from the British Army in 1941.