Francis Mayfield BEST

   FamilySearch ID: K8C6-MK1.

  General Notes:

Francis Mayfield Best was a career soldier. He quaified as an engineer at the South Austraian School of Mines prior to World War 1. He enlisted and was commissioed as a Second Leutenant in the 5th Field Engineering Company. He saw action in France on the Somme and was subjected to poisonous gas attack during that conflict. He was an excellent rifle shot and after WW1 finished he stayed on in England as a member of the Australian Rifle Team and represented the country in the Bisley Trophy between the commonwealth countries. During this this time he met his future wife Charlotte Edith Emma Vatcher. They were married back in Australia after his return (and her emigration).

Between the wars he was a member of the East Torrens Rifle Club and was the South Australian Delegate to the Commonwealth Council of Rifle Associations. He won the Simpson Trophy in 1936.

He also remained in the militia between the wars and was a member of the 27th Battalion in South Australia; rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and becoming the Commanding Officer from 1934 to 1940. He had a large hand in the formation of the 27th Battalion as the South Australian Scottish Regiment; in place until the battalion was amalgamated with the 10th Battalion becoming the 10/27th.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. World War 1 - Enlistment, 1916, Adelaide, South Australia. F M Best - enlistment paper for WW1

2. WW1 Embarkation, 1917. Embarkation record for WW1

3. Australian Bisley Rifle Team, 1919. A number of soldiers applied to remain in Britain after WW1 to compete in the Bisley Rifle Shooting Trophy between the commonwealth countries. Francis (Fred) Mayfield Best was chosen as part of the team and is pictured seated on the far left in the front row.

4. Officers of the 27th Battalion, 1939. Officers of the 27th Battalion with F M Best as Commanding Officer on the occasion of his retirement from the regiment.

5. F M Best - WW2 Enlistment, 1941, Adelaide, South Australia. F M Best - Enlistment paper for WW2

6. 2 Australian Technical Training Centre (Schools), 1943, Melbourne, Australia. MELBOURNE, VIC. 1943-05-27. OFFICERS OF THE 3RD MOTOR VEHICLE TRADE TRAINING CENTRE, PRAHRAN, LEFT TO RIGHT:- FRONT ROW, VX108346 MAJOR C.S. VAUGHAN, S3074 LIEUTENANT COLONEL F.M. BEST, VP7505 CAPTAIN W.J.G. LYON, BACK ROW, VX108414 CAPTAIN S.G. HORNE, VX108415 LIEUTENANT B.L. HILLMAN AND V85129 LIEUTENANT A.R. SPETCH.

7. F M Best - Military Service History, 1944. Service History of Francis Mayfield Best

8. Alt. Death: Bladder Cancer, 14 Sep 1944.

Francis married Charlotte Edith Emma VATCHER on 31 Jul 1920 in Glen Osmond, Adelaide, South Australia. (Charlotte Edith Emma VATCHER was born in Sep 1888 in Marylebone, Middlesex, England and died on 21 Dec 1952 in Adelaide, South Australia.)