Lieutenant General Sir Edward Cecil Bethune, KCB, CVO (23 June 1855 – 2 November 1930) was a British Army officer who raised and led his own regiment, Bethune's Mounted Infantry, in the Second Boer War and directed the Territorials in the First World War.

[1] Baptised on 4 August 1855 in the church of the Holy Trinity at Paddington, second son of Admiral Charles Ramsay Bethune, 24th of Balfour, and his wife Frances Cecilia Staples,[2] his chosen career was the British Army.

At the age of 20 he gained a commission in the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot in September 1875,[3] seeing service in the Second Anglo-Afghan War in Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, where he was present in the operations around Kabul in December 1879.

Promoted to lieutenant general in 1913, he was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1915,[8] and served throughout the First World War before retiring in 1920 after 45 years.

[10] A son Edward died in infancy,[11] and their daughter Mary Cecilia (Molly) Bethune married Dr Gerald Evan Spicer, son of Sir Evan Spicer, paper magnate and Chairman of London County Council.