Ernest Soares

Sir Ernest Joseph Soares (20 October 1864 – 15 March 1926) was a British solicitor and Liberal politician.

He resided at 36 Princes Gate, London,[2] and of Upcott House[3] in the parish of Pilton, near Barnstaple in North Devon, Soares was the son of José Luís Xavier Soares, a Liverpool merchant, tracing his roots to Ucassaim, Portuguese Goa and Hannah Hollingsworth of Liverpool.

[4] Prior to conversion to Roman Catholicism, the family were Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) with the surname Gaitonde.

In 1900 he was elected to the House of Commons for Barnstaple, and rented Upcott House, where he was resident in 1901, a large white stucco Georgian mansion one mile from the centre of Barnstaple and a prominent landmark for the voters and inhabitants of that town, from Sir William Robert Williams, 3rd Baronet of nearby Heanton Court.

Having retired from managing his retail empire, in 1866 he returned to England and resided at Oakleigh, on The Avenue in Ashton upon Mersey.