Arthur Soames (politician)

Arthur Soames

Arthur Wellesley Soames (30 November 1852 – 2 November 1934) was a British Liberal politician and architect.

Family and education[]

Soames was born in Brighton, the son of . He was educated at Brighton College, the public school which his father had founded in 1845, and in 1871 he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge^[1] where he obtained his BA in 1877 and MA in 1881.^[2] In 1876 he married Eveline, the daughter of T. Horsman Coles from Ore in East Sussex. They had three sons and two daughters.^[3] Of the three sons, two, Gilbert and Maurice, were killed during the First World War.

Career[]

Soames studied architecture under Sir Arthur Blomfield who was an Associate of the Royal Academy.^[1] He then set up his own architectural practice between 1882 and 1898.

Politics[]

Soames was a Liberal in the Radical tradition. He was Chairman of the East Marylebone Liberal and Radical Association.^[2] He was adopted as the Radical candidate for Ipswich at the 1892 general election and fought the seat, without success, in 1895. However he got his opportunity to enter Parliament at a by-election in the constituency of South Norfolk held on 12 May 1898. The by-election was occasioned by the resignation on grounds of ill-health of the sitting Liberal Unionist (formerly Liberal) MP, Francis Taylor.^[4] Standing as a Radical, Soames gained 4,625 votes. His Unionist opponent, Sancroft Holmes received 3,295 giving a very healthy Liberal majority of 1,330.^[1]

Soames decided not to contest his seat again at the 1918 general election, by that time aged 66 years.^[5]

References[]

External links[]

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Arthur Soames
• "Soames, Arthur Wellesley (SMS871AW)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.