Private Herbert Roderick Bestwick

Herbert Bestwick was born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England on April 24, 1893. In the 1911 UK census he was living with his father, Henry, a stationer; mother, Harriett; as well as two brothers and three sisters. Herbert, one sister and his brother William were assisting in the business, and 16-year-old sister Beatrice was working as a dressmaker’s apprentice. The two youngest children were still in school. Herbert immigrated to Canada in 1913, sailing on the Teutonic. He was listed as a hosier and his destination was Paris, where he was employed as a machinist at Penmans No. 7 Mill. He married Nellie Brown in Paris, on October 3, 1914 and they attended St James Anglican Church.

Herbert enlisted with the Dufferin Rifles on August 2, 1915. He was transferred to the 84th Battalion and sent to France where “he carried on in the front lines for 13 months”. While serving in the Somme salient, he had medical treatment for trench foot for two weeks. Trench foot was a common ailment among World War 1 soldiers serving in the wet, muddy and unsanitary trenches. In September, 1917, he suffered a more serious injury, when he was blown out of the trench where he had been with two other soldiers in a work party. The Germans were putting down a heavy barrage and the three men sought cover in a shell hole. One was wounded and they left to seek more secure shelter. Herbert was the last to leave. Shortly after he left the shell hole, he remembers seeing a flash. And the next he knew he came to in the hospital at Aire. He was unconscious for 3 or4 days, unable to speak and he was very nervous. During the first three weeks in hospital, the hospital itself was the target of an air raid and this bothered him very much. His speech came back but he stuttered. Herbert also suffered a great deal from nervousness and anemia. Even though he was well nourished, he was very excitable. He was quite unsteady, and had a tremor of speech. These were all common symptoms during WW1 of shell shock, what today we would call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Herbert was transferred to hospital. He left France for England on October 30, 1917. He was invalidated back to Canada in October, 1918 where he was assessed and diagnosed with neurasthenia. Treatment continued at hospital and he was getting better by January, 1919. He was given leave to go home for three days and had no headaches. He was finally discharged February 8, 2019 for medical (emotional) unfitness. He was advised to have lighter work for a time after discharge.

By the 1921 Census, Herbert and Nellie were living on Grand River Street in South Ward and Herbert was working as a knitter at Penmans. In 1922 he was appointed as caretaker of the Presbyterian Church. He made at least two visits back to see his father, in 1923 and 1929, when he was employed as a farmer and landscape gardener respectively. At some point the family purchased the house at 31 Catherine Street in Paris. He and Nellie had two children, but only their son, Nelson, survived childhood.

Herbert Bestwick died at the Willett Hospital on October 7, 1976 and he is buried with his wife and daughter in the Paris Cemetery.