Portrait of Mawdistly Best (d. 1795) of Chilston Park, Kent, as a boy, full-length, wearing a red dress with a white apron and holding a hat, his spaniel at his feet, with buildings beyond

Mawdistly was the only son of Thomas Best, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Mawdistly. The Best family bought Chilston Park in Kent from the Hamilton family in the early 18th century, and by the time that Hasted visited the house in 1782, he noted that they had 'rebuilt the mansion and made other very considerable improvements to the park, waters, and adjacent grounds'. In 1742, Mawdistly married Elizabeth Fearne and had three children, one of whom was to succeed him as High Sheriff of Kent.