Mrs Arthur Soames
(1823-1900)
23 April 1863

Volume 10, page 183, sitting number 13,100. 

Born on 30 December 1823 at Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, Anna Amelia Gilstrap was the daughter of Joseph Gilstrap, a merchant, and his wife Elizabeth née Welsh.

On 27 May 1852 at Newark she married Arthur Soames of Greenwich and of Roydon Lodge near Ware in Hertfordshire. According to their marriage certificate, Arthur was a ‘Soap Maker.’

Their marriage produced at least five children.

In 1861 the couple were living at The Orchard in Lewisham with three young sons and five live-in servants, including two nurses and a footman. Arthur gave ‘Soap Manufacturer’ as his profession. According to a newspapers report of 1863 (an employee had been embezzling various sums of money), he and his brother James were trading as ‘Wilkie and Soames’ of Greenwich Marshes. 

When the census was taken in 1891, the couple were staying at the Saint Vincent Rocks Hotel in Clifton, Bristol. 

Arthur Soames died on 28 May 1894 at Grimsy in Lincolnshire, leaving an estate valued at £161,530. The Index of Wills and Administrations calls him a ‘malster’ [a maker of malt for use in brewing]. 

According to a report on his will, ‘Mr Arthur Soames, of Grimsby, master, and of Buxted Park, Sussex, Waltham Hall, Lincolnshire, and Lwynonn Hall, Wrexham, who died on the 28th of April last, aged 77 years, […] ‘bequeathed to his wife Mrs Anna Amelia Soames, £500, his plate, pictures, furniture, and household effects, horses and carriages, and a life annuity of £600’ (Morning Post, 21 July 1894). 

‘Annie’ Amelia Soames died, aged 76, on 9 November 1900 at ‘Bay View,’ West Cliff Gardens, Bournemouth, Dorset, leaving an estate valued at £7751.

She was buried beside her husband in All Saint’s Churchyard, Gresford, Wales.