Umbrella was founded in 1968 by Lord Oswell E. Spencer; Sir Edward Ashford and Dr. James Marcus after the discovery of the Progenitor virus the previous year. Another starting member, though not considered a co-founder, was Marcus' student Brandon Bailey, who was with Marcus and Spencer when they first discovered the Stairway of the Sun flower.
Shortly after Umbrella's founding, Ashford died from exposure to the virus,^[1] and Brandon was effectively-exiled to the Umbrella Africa Laboratory, where he send virus samples to Dr. Marcus' newly built research center.
In 1969, Edward's son Alexander began the construction of the Antarctic Base, attached to which was a research centre where he began development of his "Code: Veronica" project. This was his research into the gene that controls intelligence. Two years later, Alfred and Alexia would be born from his research.
Seeking new information on Progenitor, Marcus had several of his students infected with the virus. They were however, unable to survive its effects and died, their corpses dumped in the Water Treatment facility.