Major-General Sir Hugh Keppel Bethell (1882–1947) was a senior

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer.

Military career

Educated at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

and the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

, Bethell was commissioned into the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...

on 24 December 1902. Seeing active service during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he became commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, the Northamptonshire Regiment on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

in late 1915, commander of the 74th Brigade in late 1916 and General Officer Commanding

66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division The 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of the Territorial Force, which saw service in the trenches of the Western Front, during the later years of the Great War and was disbanded after the w ...

in March 1918. Aged just 36, he was the youngest British divisional commander of the

20th century The 20th (twentieth) century began on January 1, 1901 ( MCMI), and ended on December 31, 2000 ( MM). The 20th century was dominated by significant events that defined the modern era: Spanish flu pandemic, World War I and World War II, nuclear ...

. After the war he became military attaché to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1919, commander of 2nd Rhine Brigade in April 1924 and Brigadier on the general staff at Northern Command in India in April 1928. His last appointment was as General Officer Commanding Presidency and Assam District in India in December 1930 before retiring in December 1934. Following his retirement he was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in the

1935 Birthday Honours The 1935 Birthday Honours for the British Empire were announced on 3 June 1935 to celebrate the Birthday and Silver Jubilee of King George V. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged b ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethell, Hugh 1882 births 1947 deaths British Army generals of World War I Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Royal Field Artillery officers People educated at Charterhouse School British military attachés Northamptonshire Regiment officers British Army major generals Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Military personnel from Norfolk People from Quidenham