Frank Harrington BEST (1894-1917)

Frank Harrington Best (1894-1917) was a day pupil at Christ College, Brecon.  Although younger than Cyril Sladden, he would have been at school at some of the same time.

Frank Best was born in Brecon on 27th June 1894, the fifth of six children of Charles William Best, a civil engineer who was county surveyor for Brecknockshire, and his wife, Julia, of Penbryn, Brecon.  On leaving school, he studied engineering at the University of London, graduating in July 1914 just before the start of the First World War.  He joined the 1st Brecknockshire Battalion of the South Wales Borderers the following month.

His older brother, Stephen, also joined the Brecknocks and they served together in Aden, India and Mesopotamia.  Whilst serving in India, Frank chose to be baptized on 13th April 1916 at Indore, Bengal.

Lieutenant Frank Best was killed in Mesopotamia, on 13th February 1917, aged 22, and is commemorated on the Basra Memorial.  His two older brothers, Lieutenant Arthur Stephen Middleton Best and Lieutenant Stephen Wriothesley Best, were also both killed in Mesopotamia, the former in February 1917 and the latter in April 1917.

All three sons are commemorated on the war memorial in the grounds of St Mary’s Church, Brecon.  The memorial was unveiled by their mother in November 1920.