Soames Maltings, Grimsby; with fascinating connections c1870s.

An original photographic print. The photographer was W. H. Jaines of Carter Gate, Grimsby.

Arthur Gilstrap Soames’ Grimsby maltings was probably the most productive in the country at the time and capable of an output of 80,000 to 100,000 quarters of malt. He had premises in both New Market and Queen Street. His brother, Harold, had a brewery in Chesterfield.

Arthur Gilstrap Soames was born at Roydon Lodge, Essex in 1854. He was the son of Arthur Soames and Anna Amelia (née Gilstrap) who were married in Newark, Nottinghamshire in 1852. Arthur Gilstrap Soames was a nephew of Sir William Gilstrap, a successful maltster in Newark and a well-known philanthropist.

Arthur Gilstrap Soames married Agnes Helen Van de Haydt in Westminster in 1919 when he was 65 years old. The couple took a trip to Sudan in 1926. Arthur Gilstrap Soames died in 1934, aged 80. Agnes Helen Soames died in Westminster in 1964, aged 93.

In 1903 Arthur Gilstrap Soames became the High Sheriff of Lincolnshire. In 1910/1911 he was living in Great Limber, near Grimsby. His malting business must have made him a fortune as, despite the famous strike of his workers in 1892, he acquired the beautiful stately home at Sheffield Park in East Sussex in 1910. (The wonderful gardens at Sheffield Park were originally laid out by Capability Brown.)

Arthur Gilstrap Soames’ nephew was Captain Arthur Granville Soames, the father of Lord Christopher Soames who married Mary, the youngest daughter of Winston Churchill. Captain Soames’ sister, Olave, married Lord Baden-Powell. Olave made a major contribution to the Guide / Girl Scout movement and was elected World Chief Guide in 1930. Captain Arthur Granville Soames inherited Sheffield Park, East Sussex from his uncle, Arthur Gilstrap Soames.

Note: Arthur Granville Soames, son of Harold and Katherine Soames of Stubbing Court, Chesterfield, was born on 12th October 1886. He was Christened on 2nd January 1887 in Waltham, Lincolnshire. His grandparents, Arthur Soames and Anna Amelia (née Gilstrap), were living in Waltham Old Hall at the time. Arthur Gilstrap Soames lived in Waltham Old Hall at this time too.