Hugh Bethell (British Army officer)

Major-General Sir Hugh Keppel Bethell KBE, CB, CMG, CVO, DSO (1882–1947) was a senior British Army officer.

Hugh Bethell
Born1882
Died1947
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
RankMajor-General
Commands held1st Bn, Northamptonshire Regiment
74th Brigade
66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division
2nd Rhine Brigade
Presidency and Assam District
Battles/warsFirst World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Distinguished Service Order

Military career

Educated at Charterhouse School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Bethell was commissioned into the Royal Garrison Artillery on 24 December 1902.[1] He became commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, the Northamptonshire Regiment on the Western Front in late 1915, commander of the 74th Brigade in late 1916 and General Officer Commanding 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division in March 1918.[2] Aged just 36, he was the youngest divisional commander of the 20th century.[3]

After the war he became military attaché to Washington, D.C. in 1919, commander of 2nd Rhine Brigade in April 1924 and Brigadier on the general staff at Northern Command in India in April 1928.[4] His last appointment was as General Officer Commanding Presidency and Assam District in India in December 1930 before retiring in December 1934.[5] Following his retirement he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1935 Birthday Honours.[6]

References

  1. "No. 27528". The London Gazette. 24 February 1903. p. 1217.
  2. "Major-General Bethell (1882-1947)". A Year of War. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  3. "British Divisional Commanders during the Great War". Western Front Association. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  4. "WWI Western Front DSO group to Major-General H.K. Bethell". Warwick and Warwick. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  5. "Army Commands" (PDF). Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  6. "No. 34166". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1935. p. 3601.
Military offices
Preceded by
Neill Malcolm
GOC 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division
1918−1919
Succeeded by
Division disbanded
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