Sir Geoffrey Lawrence Betham

David Lowis

12 July 2020, 23:13

Geoffrey Lawrence Betham Lt.-Col, Sir was born 8 April 1889 and baptized 10 June 1889 at Christ Church Belgaum. Geoffrey L Betham was educated at Dulwich College and R.M.C. Sandhurst. He married Dorothy Cartwright, 3 April 1915, St Augustines, Highgate, London. He was mentioned in despatches 1915, and gazetted M.C. 3 August 1920, created C.I.E. 1934, and K.B.E. 1944. Betham retired in April 1944. The brief details of his career were, commissioned 20 January 1909; assistant commissioner May 1919; assistant political agent, Mekran March 1924; political agent Chagai, January 1925; ditto, Sibi, July, 1927; ditto, Zhob, March 1929; commissioner Aymer Merwan April 1933;C.I.E. January 1934; resident Mewar, March,1935; H.B.M.’s Minister, Nepal, April 1938. Betham was a keen cricketer and the teams he played for included Free Foresters, Rajputana and Europeans(India). A keen cricketer Betham played for the Army team. On 10-11 November 1926 Betham participated in a drawn match against the MCC at Lahore.
Mention of Betham is made in chapter ten of the unpublished memoirs of a junior colleague, P.E.S Finney, who worked with him during the period 1932 to 1934.

The Commissioner in Ajmeer when I first went there was a Mr Gibson nicknamed “Gib Singh” because of his knowledge of Indians and their language, when I went back Colonel Geoffrey Betham had taken his place. They were both in the Foreign and Political department, which was recruited 50% from the Army and 50% from the ICS. Gibson was an ICS man; Geoffrey Betham has started life with the 1/11 Sikhs in France in the 1914 war and had won the MC. He was a great chap and gave me full support, backing me to the hilt in various small crises. I admired him and we got on very well. He again was a great type of administrator, courageous and extremely shrewd in dealing with people. He later became our Ambassador in Nepal, he and the doctor being the only Europeans allowed into the country in those days. When in 1940 and 1941 the King and Prime Minister of Nepal (of the famous Rama family) insisted that the British would lose the war, Geoffrey Betham kept the flag flying in no uncertain terms and managed to persuade the Prime Minister to do nothing stupid but to have faith in the British, whom he swore would win in the end. Later on, in describing some of his interviews he had with the Prime Minister I gathered what a difficult time he had had. It was no easy task when some 6000 miles from England and being on one’s own to have such confidence, when most people round him were looking on the black side of things. In the 1943 Honours List I was delighted to see he was knighted for his services.

Later in the same chapter Finney refers to the many kindnesses shown to him by Geoffrey Betham and his wife, and to the beautiful Urdu that Betham spoke. In 1956 Betham published The Golden Galley: a story of the Second Punjab regiment 1761-1947 written jointly with H.V.R. Geary. Sir Geoffrey Betham died 6 November 1963, Kensington, London. Lady Betham died 25 November 1973. A memorial service for Sir Geoffrey was held on 10 December 1963 at Holy Trinity, Prince Consort Road, London. Among those present were Sir Edward and Lady Beetham. Sir Edward was a descendant of Edward Beetham of Little Strickland(brother of William Betham of Stonham Aspal) being therefore, his fourth cousin, once removed. Sir Geoffrey and Lady Betham had a daughter, Patricia Margaret, (born 17 December 1918) who married William Charles Walker Sloan, 19 September 1940, St Paul’s Cathedral, Calcutta. Sir Donald Wingate contributed an obituary notice was to The Times.

Sir Geoffrey Betham Sir Donald Wingate writes
May I as a very old friend and colleague of Geoffrey Betham in the days of the old ‘Indian Political’ add a few lines to your notice?. Geoffrey was one of the most charming characters in the service. Not only was his work outstanding, especially in Nepal, where his cheerful confidence and initiative (he practically built the first temporary aerodrome himself) were an inspiration to our most loyal ally in the last war, but he was a first class sportsman. One of the prettiest bats I have seen, he captained the Army in the India side against the MCC touring team. One of his most engaging characteristics was that he was a delightful mimic, but never unkind, especially of the higher service hierarchy. There will be many who mourn his passing.