Keppel Bethell

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Sir Keppel Bethell
File:General H.K. Bethel LCCN2016822013 (cropped).jpg
Portrait of Bethell, c. 1918–1921
Born10 December 1882
Quidenham, Norfolk, England[1]
Died1947 (aged 64–65)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
BranchBritish Army
Service years1902–1934
RankMajor-General
UnitRoyal Garrison Artillery
Northamptonshire Regiment
Commands1st Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment
74th Brigade
66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division
2nd Rhine Brigade
Presidency and Assam District
ConflictsFirst 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

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

Military career

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File:111-SC-17221 - NARA - 55194530 (cropped) (cropped) (cropped).jpg
Engaged in conversation with Major General William Wright Harts of the United States Army is Major-General H. Keppel Bethell, GOC 66th Division, pictured here at Fruges, France, 18 July 1918.

Bethell was the eldest son of Col. Edward Bethell DSO CMG and his wife Gertrude, the daughter of Major General Eustace Hill.[1] Educated at Charterhouse School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Bethell was commissioned into the Royal Garrison Artillery on 24 December 1902.[2]

Seeing active service during the First World War, 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.[3] Aged just 36, he was the youngest British divisional commander of the 20th century.[4]

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.[5] Promoted in June 1930 to substantive major general,[6] his last appointment was as GOC Presidency and Assam District in India in December 1930 before retiring in December 1934.[7] Following his retirement he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1935 Birthday Honours.[8]

References

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  • Error creating thumbnail: File missing Media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 62: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). at Wikimedia Commons