Leslie Robert Best

Forenames

Leslie Robert AWMM

Surname

Best AWMM

Service number

WWI 37143 AWMM

Gender

Male AWMM

Birth

24 Jun 1879 AWMM

Address before enlistment

Unknown AWMM Palmerston North, New Zealand AWMM

Next of kin

Mrs Frances Annie Best (wife), care of B. Brayshaw, 35 Church Street, Palmerston North, New Zealand AWMM

Relationship status

Pre 26 Apr 1917 AWMM Married AWMM
Married, 1 child AWMM

War

World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM

Campaign

• 1914-1919 AWMM Western Front AWMM
• 1917 AWMM Passchendaele AWMM

Armed force / branch

Army AWMM

Service number

WWI 37143 AWMM

Enlistment

WW1 Unknown AWMM
Age  37 AWMM
Stationhand/Civilian AWMM

Embarkation details

WW1 26 Apr 1917-20 Jul 1917 AWMM
HMNZT 84 AWMM Vessel was Turakina AWMM Rifleman AWMM 25th Reinforcements, H Company AWMM New Zealand Rifle Brigade AWMM

Medical notes

• Height, Unknown Period AWMM
  5 foot 3.5 inches AWMM
• Weight, Unknown Period AWMM
  131 pounds AWMM
• Hospital Diseases , Wounds, WWI AWMM
  Gun shot wound to right index finger, Passchendaele 12 October 1917 AWMM
• Accidental Death, Cause of Death AWMM
  Fracture of the skull after an accidental fall from a fire escape AWMM

Last rank

WW1 Rifleman AWMM
New Zealand Rifle Brigade AWMM

Son of Benjamin Paul best and Clarriss(?sp) best

Leslie Best was the husband of Frances Annie Best (nee Evans), of High Holborn Street, Surrey Hills, Sydney, Australia. AWMM

Death

5 Jan 1919 AWMM
Age  38 AWMM

Cause of death

Accidental Death AWMM

Cemetery

Karori Cemetery, Wellington, New Zealand AWMM D. 12. (S). AWMM

Related objects

External links

• Papers Past. Digital New Zealand Newspapers.
  http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast
  Sources Used
• Military personnel file
  https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R22275847
  Further Reference
• Returned soldier's death. Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 87, 7 January 1919, Page 7
  http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=DOM19190107.2.61&srpos
  Further Reference
• A Street Near You record
  https://astreetnearyou.org/person/643795/-
  Further Reference
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty record
  https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/643795
  Further Reference

References

• Macdonald, L. (1978). Passchendaele : the story of the third Battle of Ypres 1917. London : Penguin Books.
• The Dominion
• Harper, G. (2000). Massacre at Passchendaele : the New Zealand story. Auckland, N.Z.: HarperCollins.
• New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1918). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume III. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
  62: 31
• Austin, W. (1924). The official history of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade (The Earl of Liverpool's Own). Wellington, N.Z.: L T Watkins.
• HMNZT 84 - The klink : a souvenir of the voyage of S.S. Turakina (H.M.N.Z.T. 84) April to July, 1917; and a history of the doings of the Left Wing of the 25th Reinforcements N.Z.E.F. on their way to the Front -- London : Printed by Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. : 1917