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WORLD WAR ONE

The Men Who Died

WORLD WAR ONE

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Arthur Best was born in London on May 25th, 1885, the second son of Charles and Julia Best, and was a day boy at Christ College between 1897 and 1901. His father was the

county surveyor and former Mayor of Brecon (1904).

Arthur left school to undertake engineering work with his father, and then undertook a course at the Central Technical College leading to a diploma and then a B.Sc. for Engineering from the University of London. For some time, he assisted his father in the work of County Surveyor for
Breconshire, and              

23                24

Arthur and his two brothers, Stephen and Frank, were serving in the same campaign and he met them unexpectedly at Bombay on his way out from home and there was a happy reunion of the brothers on Christmas day 1916. Arthur was killed in action on February 23rd, 1917, probably in the battles leading up to the capture of Baghdad in early March.

He died just ten days after his younger brother Frank and only nine weeks before younger brother Stephen.⁶






















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  See next two records


Lieutenant Arthur Stephen Middleton Best

Royal Engineers 71st Field Company

Killed in Action in Mesopotamia on February 23rd, 1917

aged 32

Buried at Amara War Cemetery

early in 1913 he left Britain to take up an appointment as assistant engineer in the Public Works Department of the Federated Malay States which he liked and was successful at.

However, in early 1915 he returned to England at his own expense to volunteer for service in the war. He received a commission as second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, Welsh Division in April 1915 and was promoted lieutenant in the November. He was stationed at Abergavenny and afterwards Llandudno where he commanded a company for a short time, and then volunteered for service in the East and arrived there in October 1916.


He was wounded in December 1916, but returned to duty in January 1917.

WW1 Book (25)