BEST, Thomas (?1713-95), of Chilston Park, Kent.

Family and Education

b. ?1713, 1st s. of Mawdistly Best of Park House, in Boxley, and Chatham, Kent, brewer, by Elizabeth, da. of James Fearne of Chatham, surgeon.1Best mss F5, Kent Archives Office. educ. University Coll. Oxf., 8 June 1732, aged 18; ?I.Temple 1732. m. 3 Jan. 1743, Caroline, da. of John Scott of Scot’s Hall, Kent, s.p. suc. fa. 1744.

Offices Held

Lt. gov. of Dover and dep. warden of the Cinque Ports 1762 – d.

Address

Main residence: Chilston Park, Kent.

biography text

Thomas Best, ‘a gentleman of immense fortune’,2Gent. Mag. 1795, p. 352. whose grandfather had founded a brewery in Chatham High Street, did not himself inherit the family business, which was carried on by his younger brother James.3R. A. Keen, ’Messrs. Best, brewers of Chatham’, Arch. Cant. lxxii. 172-81. Through his wife he was connected with leading Kent families; his sister married Robert Fairfax, and he himself was nephew to Admiral Edward Vernon. Returned as a Tory for Canterbury in 1741 and 1747, he voted regularly with the Opposition, being classed as such in 1747. He died 26 Mar. 1795.

Author

A.N.N.

Volume

Commons 1715-1754

Notes

1. Best mss F5, Kent Archives Office.
2. Gent. Mag. 1795, p. 352.
3. R. A. Keen, ’Messrs. Best, brewers of Chatham’, Arch. Cant. lxxii. 172-81.