11th Suffolks; Labour Corps

Herbert Bester remains a research challenge.  The only indication of any connection with Kingston is that his name is on the original memorial board in the Church and single word on a pension record card.  While that may be very strong evidence he qualifies to be recorded in this project, it is unfortunately the only record found to date that connects him to Kingston.

Herbert Arther Bester was born on 12 February 1891 in Little Eversden. He was baptized on 22 March in Little Eversden. He had various brothers and sisters, who all lived in Little Eversden. In the 1901 Census he is living with his family in Little Eversden, but some time shortly after it seems the betters moved to Great Eversden, because subsequent children are recorded as being born in Great Eversden. In 1911 he is still living in the Eversdens. In October 1912 Herbert married Dora Ada Custerson in Caxton, although Dora lived in Great Eversden.   But there is no evidence of a life in Kingston, and minimal no evidence of his wartime service.  So even if we were to include him, there is currently very little material to work with.

 The card says that Herbert served in the Labour Corps. It seems to give two service numbers 406284 and/or 496284. Presumably the handwriting on a prior document was unclear and the second digit might have been a 0 or a 9.

Testing both those numbers against the various databases, it seems the correct number is 496284. Searching under that number brings up medal record card for Herbert Arthur Bester that shows he was in the Suffolk Regiment with the service number 16405, prior to his move to the Labour Corps, a move that also suggests he may have suffered some injury.

It is perhaps of interest to note that his name has an addition L, it is spelt Bestler in the medal record card. This makes searching comprehensively much harder, because every search now has to be carried out twice, and with double the care, to check if the error has been copied across to other documents, and to ensure it is still the same man. however, the error which first appears in the original Regimental confirmation of medal eligibility, also firmly ties a few facts together. It confirms that the man who was in the Suffolks as a Private, number 16405, is the same man that was a Corporal number 496284 in the Labour Corps.

Using the ‘blocking’ technique and looking for men with enlistment records immediately prior and post Herbert’s number, it looks as though he joined the 11th Suffolks in early November 1914.

The move from a frontline infantry unit like the Suffolks, to the Labour Corps, usually indicated a substantial injury that left a man unfit for soldiering in the trenches, but of some use in the rear logistics necessary to keep the frontlines functioning. However, no hospital records have yet been found. The pension record card supports this assumption though, the number 11/M/ … indicates a disabled service pension

Again, comparing with transfer dates into the Labour Corps with men issued similar service numbers, it suggests Herbert transferred in early 1918. He seems to have been demobilized on 31 January 1919.

After the war, it seems Herbert and Dora moved to Bedford. Herbert died in Wellingborough in 1961.

This is one of the failings of these paperwork-based searches. The Census is only a spot check of where people were for one night every 10 years. It is perfectly possible that Herbert lived in Kingston from late 1911 after the census date, until early 1921 before the census date – almost 10 years of residency that wouldn’t leave a trace.

Hopefully this research will generate discussions that lead to some evidence, and we can fill in more of Herbert’s story and show his connection to Kingston.  Certainly his younger brother Wilfred Bester is visible, he served in the Suffolk’s service number 16569, and like so many, was killed on the first day of the Somme. (and is recorded as living in Great Eversden)  But the record is near silent on Herbert.  So his absence is not a rejection of his service, it is simply that we don’t have any knowledge of what form that service took and what his connection was with Kingston.