Abstract
Samuel Best devoted his clerical life to serving the people of Abbots Ann near Andover. His great heart was for the people and he demonstrated this through the establishment of a primary school to educate the children and a Friendly Society to help the people save in times of plenty to survive through times of famine, and to provide for their retirement. His knowledge of geology was limited to what he read and, although he disagreed with some of the theories of geologists, especially where they conflicted with Scripture, Best made science an important part of the curriculum at Abbots Ann Primary School. He wrote a 43-page booklet on geology, in which he disagreed, on Scriptural grounds, with the old-Earth views expressed by William Buckland in the latter's Bridgewater Treatise.