ISAAC COUMBE AND HENRY PEARSE COUMBES

The Coumbe / Coombe Family

Isaac Coumbe and Henry Pearse Coumbes were brothers and were born in North Hill. Both brothers were transported to Australia in March and May 1844 for separate crimes.

Their parents were Henry Coumbe and Jane (nee Pearse) who married in Lewannick in 1808. Henry and Jane had at least seven children, all baptised in St Torney’s. They lived in and around the hamlet of Illand in North Hill Parish where Henry was a farm labourer. His income would have not been high and life would have been hard for the family. Their children were: Mary Ann Coumbe (1809), John (1810), Henry Pearse Coumbe (1813), Elizabeth Coumbe (1814), Isaac Coumbe (1815), Jane (1821), Rhoda (1829). No record of their daughters Mary Ann and Jane have been identified after their baptisms; it is possible that they died as infants but their burials have not been recorded. Rhoda died in May 1836 when she was just a few days short of her 7th birthday and was buried in St Torney’s churchyard. She was joined there in October by her eldest brother, John, who died when he was 26. Elizabeth died in the summer of 1840 when she was also 26 and, like Rhoda and John, she was buried in St Torney’s.

The 1841 Census

When Henry and Jane were listed in the 1841 census they had no children with them. In November 1843 Henry senior died and joined the others in the graveyard, leaving his widow Jane and just the two boys, Isaac Coumbe and Henry Pearse Coumbes.

In the 1841 census Isaac had been a servant living in Old Town Street, in St Andrew’s, Plymouth. Henry Pearse Coumbe’s whereabouts have not been found. No records remain to tell us whether Jane may have known where her two boys were or what they were doing, or even to indicate when she last saw them.

Court Hearings

Isaac appeared before the courts in March 1843 when he was sentenced to three months in prison and then again in January 1844 when he was found not guilty of larceny and discharged. By March 1844, though, he was back in trouble and on this occasion he was found guilty. His sentence was to be transported to Van Diemen’s Land for 14 years. He was one of 324 Convicts transported on the “Barossa” in 1844. The report on his trial is shown here.

Just a few months after Isaac was sentenced, his brother Henry was also before the court and was also handed down a sentence of transportation. So, both brothers found their way to Australia on separate ships for separate crimes. There is no record that tells us whether they ever met again.

A detailed and fascinating account of each of the lives of Isaac Coombe and Henry Pearce Coumbes has been compiled by Trish Symonds. Click on the links to read more. We are grateful to her Trish for her research and her agreement to share the brother’s stories.