Arthur Granville Soames
Captain Arthur Granville Soames (12 October 1886 – 6 July 1962) was a member of HM's Coldstream Guards. Early life. He was born on 12 October 1886 in Wingerworth, Derbyshire, England. He was the only son of Harold Soames (1855-1918), brewer, later of Gray Rigg, Lilliput, Dorset. Arthur's uncle, Harold's brother, Arthur Gilstrap Soames founded the defunct landed gentry family, Soames of Sheffield Park, but he and his wife had only a daughter Sylvia, so Sheffield Park was passed to his nephew Arthur who sold it, see below.) Arthur's mother was Katherine Mary  (1851-1932), daughter of George Hill. He was the brother of Olave St. Clair Baden-Powell, World Chief Guide. His sister Auriol threw herself under a train four months after their father killed himself; she left three little girls aged 5, 3 & 3 months. Career. He was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant into the Coldstream Guards 16 August 1905, Lieutenant 21 September 1907, and served with the regiment during the First World War. In November, 1926, then living at Ashwell Manor, Tyler's Green, Penn, Buckinghamshire, he was made Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, and again the following year, 1927 Personal life. He  was married on 20 Dec 1913 in London to Hope Mary Woodbine (b. 2 Aug 1893 in Westminster), daughter of businessman Charles Woodbyne Parish, of Ennismore Gardens, Kensington. The Parish family were Norfolk landed gentry, and Hope's mother Frances (née Boyle) was descended from the 2nd Earl of Glasgow. Together, they had two daughters and a son :- They divorced in 1934, and Arthur remarried twice: His father Harold committed suicide by walking into the sea at Bournemouth, Dorset on Christmas Day 1918; his sister Auriol Edith Davidson, also committed suicide, by throwing herself under a train at Chestnut, Hertfordshire  on 5 April 1919. In 1934, he inherited the mansion and estate of Sheffield Park, Sussex, from his father's brother, Arthur Gilstrap Soames (who had purchased it in 1909), selling the estate in 1953. He also disposed of part of his extensive library around that time. He died in a London hospital on 6 July 1962 aged 75.