Alfred Howlett Grimes was born in Bubbenhall Warwickshire on 4 August 1864, one of the seven children of William Howlett Grimes and his wife Elizabeth Murcott Grimes nee Ledbrook. In 1871 William and the family were living at 1 Ryton Road, in Bubbenhall, where he was farming 800 acres and employing 20 men, 8 boys and 6 women. By 1881 Alfred was boarding at All Saints School in Bloxham Oxfordshire. When he was 27 Alfred was back in Bubbenhall living with his parents and working as a land agent's assistant. He was living at 1 Ryton Road Bubbenhall with his brothers and sisters in 1901, when his eldest brother was head of the family working as a farmer, while Alfred had become a land agent's clerk. By 1939 Alfred was living at Dale House Farm, Stoneleigh with his brother Frank, a farmer, his sister Mary Hollick who had been widowed, and her daughter Mabel Hollick who ran a riding school. He passed away on 4 July 1941. Newspaper obituaries described him as a well-known auctioneer, estate agent and valuer in Birmingham, where he had been living in Wyndham Road.