Henry Arthur Bethell

Henry Arthur Bethell was the son of Henry Slingsby Bethell of Bath. He was commissioned in the Royal Artillery on 27 July 1880 and spent the first half of his career in India. After his return to Britain, in 1898, he became increasingly involved in the scientific aspects of gunnery, serving on the Howitzer Committee and Artillery Committee. He became an acknowledged artillery expert, publishing Modern Guns and Gunnery (1906) and Modern Artillery in the Field (1910). He retired in the rank of colonel on 4 January 1911.

Bethell was re-employed after the outbreak of the Great War, becoming CRA of the 25th Division, a New Army formation, on 10 November 1914. He was responsible for training 25th Division’s artillery at home and in France, to which the division deployed in September 1915, but was replaced before the division took part in any major action.

Brigadier-General Bethell was awarded the Lefroy Medal for contribution to artillery science. He retired for the final time in 1920.