​Tommy and Elsie Best              Suggested by John Hunt       July 2026

Bests’ mechanical elephant (courtesy Wiltshire News, 19 September 1952)

 
John Hunt wrote to us: A subject I think that maybe of interest is Tommy Best. In Box he lived in the next left up from The Bassets along a drive down to his house (I know because I used to deliver his morning newspaper in the 1940s). When the war was over he obtained large amounts of Army, Navy and Royal Airforce wartime service clothes & equipment. Finding the story of Tommy Best proved to be a harder task than John or I expected.
 
Thomas Charles Best, 1888-1954
Tommy Best was not a Box native but he had a huge impact in the village. His early life is obscure. He was born in Birmingham, probably the eldest son of Charles Glascott Best (1867-1932), former pawn broker turned shop fitter, later joiner, and lastly builder. Charles Glascott seems to have been a rather unscrupulous businessman, charging exorbitant rates of interest.[1] Tommy’s mother may have been Susan Anna Biddle.
 
Tommy trained as a joiner before the First World War and would have been of age to serve in that war but the record is silent on his military record. It isn’t clear when Tommy married his wife Florence Elsie (1893-1959) (usually known as Elsie). Probably, it was before they came to our area as Elsie was calling herself Mrs Best by then, but there is an intriguing reference in 1934 when a Thomas Best married Florence Elsie Hayward in Wellington, Shropshire.
 
Trading in Bath, Corsham and Box
The couple moved to the West of England in the 1920s and Tommy set up business with a sawmill on the Lower Bristol Road, Bath.[2] Later he traded as Thomas Best Limited with a warehouse/ store at York Place, Walcot, Bath. At that time the couple were living at South Street, Corsham. That remained the situation from at least 1923 to 1927. The stock held in Bath was First World War redundant items, probably small scale with the difficulty of getting bulky items through the city.[3] By 1926 they were rationalising their business activities with some goods from the Bath shop outlet moving to Corsham opposite the Railway Station. They were still selling military surplus goods, such as galvanised corrugated iron sheets described as cheapest in Wiltshire.[4] Some of the items were quite specialised, such as 40-gallon water tanks on wheels in 1926.[5]
 
In the late 1920s they started construction work in Box and built their own home, Oak House, The Bassetts, in 1928. They moved from Corsham altogether but kept the Bath shop. At some point in the 1920s or 30s they took the lease of the shed premises on Mill Lane (later occupied by WOMAD, next door to the carpark of Box Mill). They used this as their local outlet. Of course, there was a greater supply of all types of military clothing, implements and hardware after the end of the Second World War. In 1954 the Bath shop, Avon Street, sold a multitude of small items, all promoted as Reader’s Bargains:

• Jerry cans, coco matting, plywood, wardrobes, distemper paint, sheets, saws and brushes.[6]
• Kitchen bowls, kettles and wellington boots.[7]
• Planes, chisels, hammers, pliers and saws.[8]
• Tartan wool, oilskin suits and coffee tables.[9]
• Khaki boiler suits, lined mackintoshes, blankets and folding chairs.[10]
• Tents, sheets, tablecloths and Japanese deed boxes.[11]
• Lavatory basins, galvanised buckets and haversacks.[12]

 
John Hunt remembered the warehouse outlet they had in Box: His local supply store was in Mill Lane. Amongst other Box children, my twin brother and I would enter the store and, in our imagination, we became pilots trying on flying helmets/masks/leather fur-lined jackets/ kid gloves/ and sunglasses. The place had every imaginable instrument, dials and gauges; it was like a special Christmas present to local children pretending to be different types of servicemen in various costumes. Happy days.
 
Les Dancey recalled: When I was young, Box Mill was in operation and, indeed, my brother, Donald, worked there for a while. Across the river from there was Tommy Best's storage depot. His main shop was in Bath, where the New College was built, alongside Green Park Railway Station. He dealt mainly in ex-military goods, so it was of great interest to us boys who used to climb over the back fence and play around in there. Field telephones and the like fascinated us. At one time we managed to borrow a raft and get it over the fence into the river. We didn't consider it stealing because we only wanted to play on it and use it as a diving platform, they could have it back any-time they chose. We never got caught anyway.
 
No trip to Bath was complete without a nose around Tommy Best’s store there to see what was new since our last visit, as it displayed a greater variety of items than were in the yard at Box. I do remember in the yard were two piles of shredded asbestos which, as children, we loved getting our hands on and throwing it into the air to watch it glisten as it floated back down to the pile. We were unaware of the extreme heath risk.
 
T&E Best Ltd, Builders
By 1939 Tommy described his occupation as a builder and contractor, too old to serve but doing his bit as a special constable. This refers back to the inter-war years when he and his wife worked as builders and developers of The Bassetts. Calling themselves T&E Best, they bought a parcel of land on the east side of the village from the Northey family in 1927 and got piecemeal planning permission for the bungalows that we know as The Bassetts.[13] They seem to have tendered for the building work on a piecemeal basis. In 1928 five bungalows were planned and in 1929 an unspecified number of additional ones.[14] It is probable that the Bests acquired the right to build the houses as a speculative venture on land they occupied on a ground rent from the Northey family.
 
Tommy and Elsie lived in Oak House, which in 1928 was incorrectly called 1 The Bassetts when a telephone was installed with the number Box 40.[15] The Bassett houses they constructed were well-built with four or five rooms, a kitchenette, bathroom and, unusually for the older houses in the village, connected with the utilities of gas, water and mains drainage.[16] But it seems unlikely that the Bests made much money out of the development as most of the houses sold for only £450.


The Mechanical Elephant
And so, we come to the headline photograph and the story of the mechanical elephant capable of giving rides to children. It was owned by Tommy and used as publicity for his store. Roy Bradley recalled it when he was brought up in the Waifs and Strays orphanage at Sunnyside (now ByBrook Nursing Home): The main attraction at the Sunnyside Fete was a mechanical elephant which was half full-size and moved along the ground with a 2-stroke engine. It was owned by Tommy Best, who had a scrap and army surplus yard in Box, but was kept in the summer house at Sunnyside. A competition to name the elephant was held in September 1952 and the elephant newly christened Igo was loaned out and won first prize in the Swindon Legion carnival of 1953.[17]
 
Tommy died suddenly in 1954. He was driving his car on business in the Mendips when he felt unwell, needed air, and collapsed and died on the spot.[18] He was buried in Arnos Vale Cemetery and any donations were to go to Sunnyside, Box.[19] Because they had no children, they appointed as their heir Winifred Ethel Stamp (1910-1979), the daughter of Frederick Stamp, bricklayer. Their connection with the girl is unknown. She married Cyril James Cryer (1908-1996) in 1931 and in 1939 they lived at Greenfields, Bannerdown, Bath. In 1956 she appears to have been involved in a cellulose explosion ignited by a cigarette end, one of 35 people injured in the Evesham auction room of John Firth, cabinet-makers.[20] She remarried in 1969 to Leonard AV Pollinger and died in 1979.
 
Conclusion
Researching the details of Tommy and Elsie Best is difficult. They were private people, hard-working, and non-participants in village social life. Yet they gave much to the village that still exists today, including parts of The Bassetts. We would be delighted to hear more if anyone has further details or can correct their story.

Family Tree
Thomas Charles Best (1888-1954) married Florence Elsie (b 27 January 1893-2 February 1959). They had no children.

​References
[1] Coventry Heald and Free Press, 20 March 1896
[2] The Wiltshire News. 6 February 1959
[3] he Bath Chronicle, 13 August 1921
[4] The Wiltshire Times, 26 December 1925
[5] The Wiltshire Times, 27 March 1926
[6] The Wiltshire News, 12 May 1954
[7] The Wiltshire Times, 24 April 1954
[8] The Wiltshire News, 15 April 1954
[9] The Wiltshire News, 23 April 1954
[10] The Wiltshire News, 21 May 1954
[11] The Wiltshire News, 7 May 1954
[12] The Wiltshire News, 30 April 1954
[13] Courtesy Stella Clarke
[14] North Wilts Herald, 20 April 1928 and The Wiltshire Times, 10 August 1929
[15] Bath Chronicle and Herald, 1 September 1928
[16] Bath Chronicle and Herald, 25 April 1931
[17] The Somerset Guardian, 19 September 1952 and 5 June 1953
[18] The Wiltshire Times, 6 November 1954
[19] The Birmingham Mail, 5 November 1954
[20] The Birmingham Mail, 19 September 1956