Christ College Remembers Second Lieutenant Stephen Wriothesley Best

REMEMBRANCE DISPATCH No. 30 COMMEMORATES SECOND LIEUTENANT STEPEHN WRIOTHESLEY BEST (DAY BOY 1900-1906) WHO WAS KILLED IN ACTION ON 30th APRIL 1917.

He went on to gain a civil service appointment in Edinburgh, working as a clerk in the Estate Duty office. In 1912 he began studying law at Edinburgh University and in January 1913 joined the Officers Training Corps. At the outbreak of war Stephen returned home, becoming an ‘officer Cadet’ in the Brecknockshire Battalion, South Wales Borderers and was soon gazetted Second Lieutenant.

Stephen and the Battalion arrived in Aden on 16th December 1916. After a gruelling few months facing the Turks, the Battalion was sent to India. In early 1917 Stephen and his brother, Frank, took 140 men from India to help rebuild the shattered 4th Battalion in Mesopotamia. By 13th February the brothers were in the thick of action in which Frank was killed. Wounded in the heavy shelling at Deltwa in late March, Stephen rejoined his Battalion on 21st April 1917.