Leonard Arthur Bethell
| Leonard Arthur Bethell | |
|---|---|
| File:Leonard Arthur Bethell.jpgLeonard Arthur Bethell.jpg Leonard Arthur Bethell | |
| Born | 6 December 1879[1] Boulogne-sur-Mer, France[2] |
| 💀Died | December 1950 (aged 71)[3] Craven Arms, Shropshire, EnglandDecember 1950 (aged 71)[3] |
| 🏳️ Nationality | British |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Royal Military College, Sandhurst |
| 💼 Occupation | British Army officer, Author, Authors' editor |
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Winifred Clytie Hall [4][5][6](m. 1908; died 1940) |
| 👶 Children |
|
| 👴 👵 Parents |
|
| 🏅 Awards | Order of the British Empire[7][8] |
| Signature | |
Lieutenant Colonel Leonard Arthur Bethell OBE[7] [8]was a distinguished soldier in India in Edwardian times, and a successful author in the 1930s. He is chiefly significant as an author, providing a direct, unheroic and unvarnished narrative of British efforts to administer the Northern jungles of Assam during the early 20th century, often providing an alternative view to the official accounts.
Personal Life
Little information is available about Bethell's early life. His birth record gives Boulogne, but the family address as 16 Royal Crescent, Walcot, Bath, Somerset.[2] The family may have been in transit when the birth happened.
The Bethell household 1881 census indicates a large and prosperous family. Bethell's father, Henry Bethell, is described as a civil engineer. The family had eight live-in servants and 6 children - one daughter and five sons at the time of the census, Leonard being the youngest, at one year old.
He married Winifred Clytie Hall in Shillong, Assam, in 1908. [9][4] and they remained married until her death in 1940.[6][10]
They had two children - Eileen Nancy Bethell (1909 - 1988) and Leonard Norman Bethell (1914 - 1940). Leonard died at Dunkirk in 1940. Eileen went on to marry John Birney in 1937 and have children. There are descendants surviving.
Bethell joined the Fairclough Lodge of Freemasons in Mandalay, Burma in 1917.[11]
Military Career
Bethell joined the Yorks and Lancs regiment in 1899 on his 20th birthday[12] [1]and went immediately to South Africa to join the war there.
Second Boer War 1899 - 1902
Bethell served in the actions at Ladysmith, Spion Kop, Vaal Krantz, Tugela Heights, Pieter's Hill and Laing's Nek.
Army service in India
He was appointed to the Indian Army in 1902, and served in various regiments – Rajput Infantry, Rajput Rifles, and in 1st, 2nd, 8th and 10th Gurkha Rifles regiments.
The Younghusband Expedition to Tibet 1903-4
The Younghusband Expedition was a late imperial adventure, ordered by the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, to create a foothold on India's Northern border against the feared Russian and Chinese influences.
Bethell was part of the Younghusband Expedition when he was seconded to the 4th Gurkha Rifles. He was in action at Niani and Gyantse Jong, and in the march to Lhasa. (Indian Army Lists.)[12]
Though militarily successful the treaties it led to were later revoked, and it fell into disfavour with government and the British public, who saw it as a massacre of unarmed peasants. Bethell gives a different view, based on his own experience, in 'A Footnote'[13] (see below).
Abor Expedition
Bethell took part in the Abor expedition, 1911-12, to avenge the murder by the Abors of the explorers Dr. Gregorson and Assistant Political Officer Mr. N. Williamson, and most of their fifty servants and porters. Bethell based his story 'High Brows and Low Brows' (see below) on this expedition, and was also joint contributor to an article on its geographical results.[14]
First World War
Bethell was posted to France in 1914. He joined the 2nd Gurkha Rifles on 12 November 1914, and was in action soon afterwards. On 11 December he went forward of the trenches and brought in two wounded men and, with help, two dead. On 20 December he was engaged in the action at La Quinque Rue. He was severely wounded, and left France on 28 February 1915. He was mentioned in despatches in the London Gazette 22 June 1915
Service in Burma and Assam
Returning to India, he rejoined the Gurkhas and moved through various posts, including command of the 10th Gurkha Rifles Depot at Mandalay, Company Officer at the Cadet College in Quetta, finally in charge of 4th Gurkha Rifles in 1920.
Third Afghan War, 1919
Bethell took part in the 3rd Afghan War[15] with the 7th Gurkha Rifles. He was appointed OBE[7], and was mentioned in despatches in the London Gazette 3 August 1920.
He was given command of the 2nd Battalion 4th Gurkha Rifles; during his tour of command the battalion served at Landi Kotal and Landi Khana in the Khyber Pass. His tour of command was shortened due to a heart condition: he was invalided to England in August 1924 where his wife Winifred joined him later.[16] On 14 September 1926 he was placed on the Unemployed List on completion of his command.[17]
A detailed list of his service record is held by the Gurkha Museum, Winchester, in the biography by Denis Wood, February 2023.[18]
Literary career
Bethell left the army in 1927 owing to ill health, and began a successful writing career – under his own name, but also under pseudonyms 'Pousse Cailloux' and 'Forepoint Severn' – generally covering his own experiences with the Gurkhas.
('Pousse Cailloux - a French expression for 'foot soldier', 'Forepoint Severn' - probaby a reference to the 4.7 inch gun used in World War I - known for it's reliability)
He wrote for Blackwoods, and, becoming a mainstay of their commercial success at the time, was offered a post as Director. In that role, he created the 12 volume series 'Tales from the Outposts' which became another commercial success. As part of the deal, he was offered 25% of the proceeds - he stuck out for, and got, 50%. (Letter from Bethell to Bailey)[19]
The stories in the collection are from remote corners of the world, especially the British Empire, and told by people living in or with experience of those places. Most were originally published in Blackwood's magazine, which found a large part of its circulation in those colonial locations.
The project took three years, from 1930 to 1933, and included contributions from notable authors and pesonalities - Sir Hugh Clifford, Fredrick Marshman Bailey, Alfred Noyes, Joseph Conrad, John Buchan, George Younghusband, Lord Baden-Powell, Weston Martyr, Humfrey Jordan, Frank Coutts Hendry, Ernest Swinton, Edmund Candler, Alfred Ollivant, R. E. Vernede, Geo. Forbes F.R.S., John Still, Perceval Gibbon, Hilton Brown, John Graham Bower and many others. Index to 'Tales from the Outposts'.
The books fell out of favour during the mid-twentieth century as interest in the empire declined. However some of the volumes have now been re-issued in paperback, and are available on Kindle. Amazon's 'Goodreads' website rates the series at three stars.[20]
Published works
Bethell also published works of his own, including some of the stories in 'Tales from the Outposts'.
Outpost duties as learnt in South Africa, William Clowes & Sons, London 1903. (43 pp)
An early work, whose general attitude might be summarised as 'shoot first, ask questions later; bayonet if possible to avoid noise!'.
Blackwood’s Tales from the Outposts; general editor, under his own name. 12 volume, Edinburgh and London, 1932-1933 (with reprints from articles in Blackwoods Magazine). Bethell's stories within this series are -
Volume 1 : Frontiers of Empire:
"A Footnote" (as Pousse Cailloux - a personal account of the
Younghusband expedition;
"A Border Affair" (as Pousse Cailloux);
"The Silver Hand of Alexander" (as Pousse Cailloux - relating to the Conolly and Stoddart affair)
'A Footnote' is repeatedly cited in Charles Allen's 'Duel in the Snows'.[21]
'A Footnote' gained gratitude from Younghusband's wife, Lady Helen Augusta Younghusband, who wrote "I shall never forget my delight in this blessed Blackwood, sent to me anonymously in 1935. We never saw the author, but I wrote to him through the publishers to tell him what this charming appreciation has meant to me. H. A. Y."[22]
'The Silver Hand of Alexander' is a very interesting account of factors in the Conolly and Stoddart affair, based on archives of The Great Game that Bethell had been given access to.
Volume 3 : Tales of the Border:
"Retaliation" (as Pousse Cailloux)
Volume 8 : Jungle Tales:
"Lost Sepoys" (as Pousse Cailloux);
"Highbrows and Lowbrows" (as Pousse Cailloux);
"Movable Columns" (as Pousse Cailloux)
'Highbrows and Lowbrows is a fictionalised version of the Abor expedition which Bethell was part of. Names and details are altered, but it seems probable that Dr Gregorson ("Grant" in the story) – is from life. The most singular incident - of the colours on the envelopes being the cause of the massacre, and hence the resulting punitive expedition - accords with the historical accounts of the time.[23]
Volume 11 : From Strange Places:
"Eldorado Unlimited" (as Pousse Cailloux)
Volume 12 : In Lighter Vein:
"Weights and Scales" (as Pousse Cailloux);
"A Rapid Survey" (as Pousse Cailloux);
"Fiat Experimentum" (as Pousse Cailloux)
His Majesty’s Shirt Sleeves, (as Pousse Cailloux). Blackwood, Edinburgh and London, 1930.
A collection of short stories, many of them later republished in 'Tales from the Outposts'.
The Garden of the Hesperides, (as Forepoint Severn). Blackwood, Edinburgh and London, 1936.
A collection of short stories.
One of the stories, Adedoids, refers to Frederick Marshman Bailey's under cover activities in what was to become Soviet Central Asia. Bailey was a master of disguise. He joined the Soviet Secret Police and was assigned to a mission to find an undercover British secret agent - who was himself! Luckily, the mission was not a success.[24][25]In this story, Bailey is referred to under the pseudonym 'Barclay' as Bethell makes clear in his letter to Bailey, 8th November 1934[19]
This story, Adedoids, also includes an eyewitness account of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, as related to Bethell during his time with the 4th Gurkhas in what is now Pakistan.
The Blind Road, (as Forepoint Severn). Blackwood, Edinburgh and London, 1938.
Describes a year-long expedition through unexplored and uncharted jungles of northern Assam to assess invasion routes from China, and possibly to discover what had happened to a lone British explorer travelling incognito, and gathering intelligence, in China and Sikkim.[26] Bethell knows him from the Tibet Mission. He names him 'Drummond' - in fact a pseudonym for Frederick Marshman Bailey. As he states in his letter to Bailey "there are bound to be a number of people who will be able to identify 'Drummond' with F. M. Bailey".[19] ("Drummond" is taken from Bailey's home street in Edinburgh.)
The party, led by Bethell, struggle against multiple obstacles – eaten alive by leeches, throwing rope bridges across river gorges, scrambling along sheer rocks by the side of a river as their only means of progress, and cutting a weary way through dense bamboo forest to make progress. Reaching the northern limit of their journey, they assess that any invasion through that route would be as doomed as they have been. But they do rescue 'Drummond' whom they find destitute and half-starved in a cave.
The story is based on Bethell's diary of the year, and includes many evocative and atmospheric diversions into the life of the jungle, the tribes, the little understood tribal rituals of birth and death.
Bailey and I turned away, pursued by the creepiness of our own imaginings, and climbed gladly to the men once more. Till camp that evening, I never heard a voice raised or a word said.
"[27]Travelling back, when crucial parts of the food ration are stolen by the jungle tribes, one of the guards on the food store is suspected of complicity. Summary execution is considered, but commuted until they get back to HQ - 'Hodiya' in the story, Sadiya in fact. Half-starved and in rags they do get back home - the death sentence is reprieved.
Friendship with Frederick Marshman Bailey
Bethell and Bailey were on the Younghusband Expedition together, shared a tent and shared the privations of that expedition. "In that first winter - indeed, throughout the expedition except during the two months of summer - personal cleanliness went by default. Had there been fuel enough to spare for hot water, the bath would have suffered the same fate as the teacup." (frozen instantly). "There was no shaving, and a most atrocious beard disguised everybody. A change of underwear became a risky adventure, rarely to be indulged in; and since going to bed involved only the addition of more clothing to that of the day, the matter was steadily overlooked"[13]
Bailey was a secret agent in China and Central Asia during the same era as Bethell was working in Assam - effectively playing his part in 'The Great Game', countering Russian influence on India’s northern border. A friendship developed between the two, and later included their families as well, sharing holidays and visits together. They remained friends for years, and a long correspondence from 1915 to 1938 is held in the National Archive.[19] (The letters from Bethell were archived by Bailey, but not his own replies to them.)
Bethell used the adventures and travels of Bailey in several of his stories, most notably 'The Blind Road'. The correspondence between the two came to an end after publication of 'The Blind Road'. The last two letters from Bethell both ask for comments on 'The Blind Road', but he evidently did not receive any. Perhaps Bailey objected to Bethell using his adventures to enhance the story, especially as he was planning his own memoirs at the time.
Retirement and death
In a letter 27 December 1935[19] Bethell announces that he is, with regret, selling their house in Dorking, New Clan House, and moving to a serviced flat in London, in Hillfield Court, Belsize Avenue. This, he says, is part of his retirement plan - relieving him of the many responsibilities of looking after a large house. It also simplified his travel to Blackwoods, where he was working full time - in fact, he uses Paternoster Row as his correspondence address in some of the letters to Bailey.
He wrote 'The Blind Road' at Hillfield - "Looking back on it now from the thickly carpeted dullness of an ultra-modern London flat, the policeman round the corner, and the din of motors and mechanised music everywhere, one discovers that there was a definite elation in that interminable period of starvation and uncertainty,"[27]
On the night of Sunday December 29, 1940, Blackwoods head office in Paternoster Row was completely destroyed in World War II bombing raids. Given that his wife died on the same day,[10] the two events were probably connected. His son had died at Dunkirk in the same year, so this must have been a very difficult time for him.
Bethell did not publish anything after 'The Blind Road' in 1938: if he was working on anything further it may have been lost in the bombing. It seems likely that he retired after this point.
There is no evidence of his taking an active part in World War II.
He died at Craven Arms, Shropshire, in December 1950.
Medals
[18]
Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasps - Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal, Laing's Nek, South Africa 1901.
Tibet Medal with clasp Gyantse.
India General Service Medal 1908 with clasps Abor 1911-12 and Afghanistan N.W.F. 1919 and oak leaves.
1914 Star.
British War Medal 1914-20.
Victory Medal with oak leaves.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bethell, Leonard A. "Dates Birth and Service" (PDF). Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bethell, Leonard. "Birth record". Ancestry.com. GIC Private Limited. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ↑ Bethell, Leonard A. "Death record". Ancestry.com. GIC Private Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bethell, Leonard A. "Marriage record". Ancestry.com. GIC Private Limited. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- ↑ Hall, Winifred Clytie. "Birth record". Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Bethell, Winifred Clytie. "Clytie death record". Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "London Gazette" (32001). HMSO. Central Chancery. 30 July 1920. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 London Gazette (3 August 1920). "London Gazette" (PDF) (32001). UK Government. Central Chancery. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
- ↑ Bethell, Winifred C. "Original MS Marriage record" (PDF). Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Bethell, Winifred C. "Winifred Bethell probate". Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
- ↑ Bethell, Leonard A. "Freemasons record". Ancestry.com. GIC Private Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Government of India, Army Department (1910). Indian Army list (1 ed.). Calcutta: Central Publication Branch. pp. 131, 448. ISBN 9781847272386. Search this book on
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Cailloux, Pousse (1932). Frontiers of Empire (1st ed.). Edinburgh and London: Blackwoods. p. 37. ISBN 1473331013. Search this book on
- ↑ Holdich, Bethell and Bower, T., L., and H. (February 1913). "The Abor Expedition: Geographical Results: Discussion". Geographical Journal. 41 (2): 109–114.
- ↑ "Operations in Waziristan". Operations in Waziristan. Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ↑ Bethell, Leonard Arthur. "Passenger lists" (PDF). Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- ↑ "Indian Army Lists". London Gazette (33202): 6036. 17 September 1926.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Wood, Denis (February 2023). Bethell, Lieutenant Colonel Leonard Arthur (1 ed.). Winchester: Gurkha Museum Archive. Search this book on
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 Bailey, Frederick Marshman. "Letters from Leonard Arthur Bethell". British Library / National Archive. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ↑ Goodreads, Amazon. "Tales from the Outposts review". goodreads.com. Amazon. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
- ↑ Allen, Charles (2004). Duel in the Snows (1 ed.). London: John Murray. pp. 73, 78, 88–89, 163, 230–232, 236, 292. ISBN 0719554276. Search this book on
- ↑ Younghusband, Francis. "Younghusband private papers". British Library / National Archive. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ↑ Hamilton, Angus (1912). In Abor Jungles (1st (photo reprint) ed.). London: G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. p. 58. ISBN 9781843424987. Search this book on
- ↑ Bailey, Frederick Marshman (February 1921). "A Visit to Bokhara in 1919". The Geographical Journal. 57 (2): 75–87.
- ↑ Bailey, Frederick Marshman (2002). Mission to Tashkent (1 ed.). Oxford: Oxford. ISBN 9780192803870. Search this book on
- ↑ Bailey, Frederick Marshman (1945). China-Tibet-Assam : a journey, 1911 (1st ed.). London: Jonathan Cape. Search this book on
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Severn, Forepoint (1938). The Blind Road (1st ed.). Edinburgh and London: Blackwoods. pp. 306, 377. Search this book on
External links
This article "Leonard Arthur Bethell" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Leonard Arthur Bethell. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
|
This page exists already on Wikipedia. |
