A Tale of Two Families
This story is about some ordinary families. Ordinary in one sense, but so special in another. They each have skeletons, each have merits and each was loved by its members. The story begins in England in mid-1700 when times were tough and population pressures were driving people to seek new lands. These families faced the separation and heartbreak that accompanies emigration. But far from being a sad story this tale chronicles the coincidences in timings that led to the Couch and the Tremble clans joining in Sydney in 1949 or so.
The sea was a dominant feature of life in the between 1750 and 1920 and much employment was to be had at sea. It is no surprise that both families had maritime careers of one form or another at various times. In Donegal, Ireland and Deptford, Kent - John David Couch forged name for himself as a shipwright. Later the Tremble boys went to sea and became merchant navymen.
The First Records (before 1740)
Recorded history begins with the apparent source of the Couch name which at least one commentator suggests probably came from Sitric Caoch, the Norse King of Dublin in 920 A.D., who was known to have frequently raided the Devon and Cornwall areas where the Couch name is prevalent.
One US Couch person's family legend has it that from Cornwall the name is usually pronounced 'kootch' while in Devon the name is usually pronounced 'kowtch'. This fits with what I understand my ancestors from Devon say 'kowtch' while Sir AT Quiller Couch, from Cornwall, says in his writings from early 1900's that it is pronounced 'kootch'.
In any case this story begins in Buckfastleigh Devon because that is as far back as documentary evidence can lead me at this time. Perhaps census data will be able to add to the picture. One William Couch married a Margaret and had three children: Peter in 1731, Susannah in 1734 and Margaret in 1737. Presumably this all took place in Buckfastleigh, Devon England as that is where Peter was christened on the 23rd November 1731.
From Everywhere to Sydney
England 1740-1876
One Peter Couch grew up and on the 22nd April 1746 he married and Agnes Baker. This marriage took place in a town called Stoke Fleming in Devon which is not far from Buckfastleigh. Peter and Agnes were married for two years before their first child Peter Couch was born on 29 Nov 1748. This Peter had five siblings Agnes, William, John, Anne, and Thomas. Anne went on to marry a John Snelling on the 19th of November 1793 in Brixham Devon it was about this time that the couch family moved to Brixham for the following few generations can be found there. Agnes married Samuel Hocking's on the 30th of November 1773 also at Stoke Fleming Devon. But it was Peter who on the 18th of January 1778, the same day that Captain James Cook discovered the Sandwich Islands, married Elisabeth Beer and began a fine tradition of conceiving or having children out of wedlock, for it was on the first of March 1778 that baby Elisabeth Couch was christened in Brixham Devon. Subsequently there were another 10 children born to Peter and Elisabeth, and, you guessed it, another Peter, the fifth born on the 26th July 1785. Twenty sixth of January 1788 saw the founding of the Colony of NSW under Governer Arthur Phillip. The bi-centenial celebration of this event in 1988 saw the birth of Tegan Couch, a descendant of these Peters.
Peter served in the Royal Navy from 1807 to 1815, and later went to Ireland where he stayed from 1823 to 1826. He then served in the Coast Guard from 1834 to 1847. A letter from Peter describes how he was pressed onto man-o-war from May 1807, just three months after he was married to Mary Boon on 17 February 1807. He served in the Royal Navy until 22 November 1815. Peter obviously carried some guilt about his time away from his love, for he later wrote the following confession to his children.
Perhaps it was to salve his conscience for Peter played the organ in church that
new cross Pepys Rd SE 14. It was Peter who was reportedly the brother of the
father of Sir AT Quiller Couch, also known as Q, however I cannot find any
evidence for this except that it clearly wasn't brother of his father it may be
further back than that. Perhaps it is related but this is the second
'independent' reference to relationship of the family with the Quiller Couch's.
One chart refers to giving Lillian M. two books of fairy stories.
Although Mary and Peter were kept apart for some eight years they were the happy recipients, like Peter's parents, of a conception before they were married. As a result baby Mary Couch was born on the 26th of April 1807. Their second child came along in 1814 just one year before Peter was discharged from the Navy, when on 30th of October Charles Couch was born. Unlike most Couch families of this branch there was no child named Peter and the line forward is through John David Couch was born on the 8th May 1825. There were also three other sisters Elisabeth, Susanna and Agnes.
Sometime between 1819 when Susanna was born and 1828 when Agnes was born parents
Peter and Mary travelled to Donegal Island for that was where John David Couch
was born. Young Mary had probably accompanied her parents to Killybeg must have
found things to her liking for in 1827 she was still in Killybeg and her mother
was writing to her from a place called Camlew? in England. On the 17th October
1827 Mary wrote the following to her daughter:
John David was about two years old when this letter was written and fortunately
he recovered from whatever illness ailed him so that he could marry Elisabeth
Ann Lane in Weymouth Dorset on the 25th of August 1847.
John David Couch already had the sea in his blood and had moved to Greenwich Kent to work in the dockyards and later became the shipwright. John David and Ann's, for that is how she was known, first child was an Elisabeth was born in 1848 although it is not clear what month she was born. There were another six children in his family; Agnes Boon, Peter, Mary Boon, George William Arthur, Samuel Oliver Toovey and finally Susan Jane Toovey was the last born in 1864. Agnes and Mary were both given the second name Boon, the family name of their grandmother. The name Toovey appears to be a family name of some description but as yet I have been unable to find any record relating to the Couch family. Peter was born on the 29th June 1855 and George William Arthur was born on the 31st December 1861, the day recording that the annual rainfall of 23 metres of rain fell in Cherrapunji Meghayala, India setting a still standing world record for heaviest rainfall.
John David Couch was a religious man, who worked as a shipwright in Devonport. He lived in Whitworth Street Greenwich, Sworders, and Lane End at various times. He was also apparently keen on boy's welfare along with a man called Rev Scott Lidect.
John David Couch's served on HMS Hastings where he apparently worked as a
carpenter. His maritime career was cut short by a injury to the thigh while
aboard HMS Sphinx in Hong Kong. The following covering note and certificate give
an insight into this change in John David Couch's circumstances in 1851.
Some
years later in 1868 Scott again wrote to Couch. This time it is apparent that
Couch's efforts to gain a further allowance from the Navy were unsuccessful
I will come to the two boys who went to New Zealand later. The remaining children of John David's family stayed in England I believe, and one, Susan was remembered for her singing. Mary became the second wife of Edward Plumridge, grandfather of Jim Plumridge from whom some of this information is derived. She was a Methodist Sunday school teacher and also the postmistress at Lane End. Mary and Edward had three children Arthur, Ethel and Olive. Olive was killed in a car accident in Lane end and had never married. Ethel married a John Ashby and had two children Herbert and Eileen. Arthur married a Maud Edwards he was said to have collected antiques and baked cakes. They had two children, Jim and Arthur. Arthur became the head postmaster at Lane end and apparently had a BA from Reading University.
Agnes Boon Couch, in 1884 married a mister Snashalls, a greengrocer with a shop at Lower Woolwich Road. Snashalls was apparently in the Boer war. They had four children, Harry, Eadie, Edgar and Agnes. Harry and Edgar were in the army - Edgar being in the Dorset Regiment.
New Zealand 1876-1912 (Rail, Sail and Illegitimate Children)
1871-80: government-assisted immigration
From 1871 the New Zealand Government began to offer assisted passages to
selected migrants and those people nominated by relatives. This was part of
Julius Vogel's ambitious scheme to develop New Zealand. The total number of
assisted migrants during the decade was over 100,000, which represented over
half of the gross migration to New Zealand in those years. 1874 saw over
32,000 assisted migrants and the greatest level of annual net migration
ever.
It was in these circumstances that two of the Couch boys (Peter and George William Arthur) decided to sail for New Zealand and begin a new life.
1881-1914: depression and a return to prosperity
The economic difficulties of the 1880s and early 1890s made New Zealand a less
attractive option for migrants. Assistance was finally terminated during the
late 1880s and 1891 saw the last small group of assisted migrants arrive. With
Victoria still booming there was a large out-migration across the Tasman and
1888 saw a net decline of over 9,000 people. There was a brief revival of
migration during the early 1890s before
returning prosperity from the turn of the century began to make New Zealand once
more an attractive destination. The numbers increased especially once assisted
migration was restored in 1904. The early years of the century also saw a
significant inflow of British people from Australia.
It was the two older boys in John David's family that had the urge to travel and move away, for at least Peter and George William Arthur up stakes and sailed for New Zealand. Peter was in New Zealand by 1877 for this is when he married Maryanne Frances Atkinson on the 17th of May. George William Arthur Couch came to NZ in 1882 at age 21 he was a grocer by trade and a Wesleyan Methodist lay preacher.
Peter's
son John Henry Lane Couch was clearly fond of his grandfather as can be seen in
some of his correspondence of 1903.
The trip for Grandfather John David Couch would have been quite an event as he was already 78 years old in 1903. With passage taking around three months to get from England to New Zealand it could have been a risky trip.
In any case a second letter in 1906 indicates that John David did not make the trip and I suspect he did not visit New Zealand before he died in January 1912 aged 87 years.
In 1903 John Henry Lane was obviously interested in the Kawau Island Mansion and hoped to become lessee, it is not clear what transpired regarding this adventure, but if he did lease it, it was not for long for there is no mention of it later.
Farewell to NZ
In 1912, the same year that his grandfather John David died, John Henry Lane Couch upped stakes and moved to Australia with his family to become a dentist (This is his registration). This was last of many career changes he made during his life.
About
six years after his arrival in Australia (c. 1919) John Henry Lane Couch and his
family arranged this portrait. It was probably because of the threat posed by
World War 1 that Jack Harry had joined the AIF. His file is marked 'depot'
meaning he never left Australia - and on his file there is a record that one
evening he went awol. Other than that, Jack military career does not seem to
have been eventful.
Jack's uncle Theodore however must have had a time of it. Theodore Stanley Couch is recorded as being from the Cty Inf Btn wounded June 10, 1915 (Father Peter Couch, of Railway Dept, Dunedin) then as being at the Deaconess Hosp, Alexandria, Cty Btn June 17, 1915 and finally discharged hospital, convalescent Cty Batt 08th Jul 1915.
Sydney 1912-1935 (Teeth)
.jpg)
At
some time John Henry Lane's son Jack also became a dentist working in the same
practice at 201 Liverpool Street Sydney. At the time the surgery was located
above the Paris theatre on the corner of Liverpool, College, Oxford and streets.
This is how it appeared, probably in the early sixties by the look of the cars. The Couch dentist sign is not visible in this photo, although it was large as John Henry Lane had a penchant for advertising. Perhaps the surgery had gone the time of this photo, but it was on the first floor and Helen Tremble, a former patient of Jacks, remembers looking out over the busy intersection from the dentists chair.
This is Jacks business card. Other documents and the brass plate described both chaps as 'Surgeon Dentists'.
Sydney phone numbers were somewhat shorter then.
John Henry Lane Couch was involved in some controversy as an advertising Dentist. The book A History of Dentistry in NSW by Halliday says the following:
clearly Couch had a win or two along the way.
Jack
met Martha Berriman and they married at Bodalla Church in 1925
The Berriman family were from around Moruya and Turlinjah which featured in subsequent Couch family lives through the Berriman clan who lived in the district.
Jack and Martha later had a shop on the Princess Highway at Turlinjah, which
unfortunately burnt down around 1952.
Berriman
Sydney 1935 -1970 (Movies and Photos)
Jack and Martha were friends with Bob and Dolly Dyer. This may have arisen
from Jacks cinematography interests.
This
picture below is a not very meaningful note from about 1945 but signed to 'my
pal John' would have been about 9 at the time.
Melody was a much loved boat of Jack Couch's. There was actually a Melody and then Melody II.
Melody Pastime Pictures was what Jack Couch proudly called his much loved film making venture. Some of his movies have recently been acquired by Screensound Australia. But even at the time Jack won an number of prizes for his movie making efforts in a competition known as the Jacobs cup. One was called 'My First Movie' and other a documentary on the Making of Charcoal in the Moruya district, one on the VAD (Voluntry Aid Department) and another on the recreation at Bobbin Head. Unfortunately after Jack died someone stole a whole lot of his movies from the cinema he had setup under the house at Drummoyne. Some of these movies are now with Screensound Australia.
Jack's brother Howard Logan Couch was described by Jack as 'my mad brother' as he was somewhat eccentric. His wife was Georgy, whom he married in 1928, apparently took a whole lot of Grandma Clara's jewellery when they separated. Howard later married a Gladys, this marriage too ended in divorce. He later had a women from over the road look after him. She was a Jehovah witness or something and eventually inherited all of Howard's belongings.
Howard was described as a bit anti-social and he and Georgy only had the one child, Adrienne, who was tragically killed in a train accident when she was about 14 years old. Howard had a large speed boat called Boomerang. It is possibly (but unconfirmed) to be the Boomerang on display at the Maritime Museum in Sydney.
Joan recalls that Jack and his parents got on well (this was lucky really - as they worked together too). Sometimes when Harry and Clara used to visit they would bring their big Maori friend, Prince Rangi with them.
We still have many photos and album of photos taken and developed by Jack Harry Couch. There are many interesting shots from around Sydney and NSW.
Jack's Daughter Joan, married an Army Officer, Geoff Cairns, and after spending some time in England and Europe returned to Australia, not really settling in one place until Geoff retired after reaching Brigadier in the Australian Army. They did however have a number of years in Canberra and Sydney. Unfortunately Geoff contracted a brain tumour in 1981 and died c1982.
Jack died unexpectedly in 1958 and it was not long after this that Martha fell ill and was bedridden for her remaining years.
During
this time Jack's son, John Henry, married his first love Helen Tremble, on 11
Jan 1958 in the Garrison Church at the Rocks in Sydney. But there is also
another family connection to this Church. It was with the first Church of
England Minister at the Garrison church that Martha Ann Ensil Kelsey came to
Australia from Greenwich as a children's nurse. She later married Andrew
Berriman from Trureen Farm (Cornwall) at the Garrison Church, and they lived for
a while in the street opposite the church. John Couch's mother Martha, was a
Berriman named after this Grandmother.
At the time of his marriage John was busy building their first house at Bundaleer Rd, Belrose, Sydney. They had one son, Alan in 1960. After a stint on 'the front line at Holsworthy' in National Service, numerous extensions, years of sailing in Balestra, working at Warbuton & Franki, and Centre Industies Spastic Centre at Killarney Heights; and with a live in guest (Fred Haas) who became a life long family friend and business partner, John, Helen, Alan and Fred, along with assorted pets; Holly the German Shepard, Sam the cat, and a few cattle, moved to the country in 1969.
Having spent his early life in Drummoyne John finally settled at Wilga Vale, Manilla NSW in 1970. John was a keen sailor in his youth, and a breeder of fine Red Poll cattle after his move to the bush in 1970. He was a proud member of Rotary International and became a life member and Paul Harris fellow. John had a couple of serious bouts of hepatitis in his youth, perhaps this was a contributory factor in his final ailment, for he died of liver cancer on Valentine's day 1989. John's ashes were scattered among the trees near the old 'Wilga Vale' house, a property 5 kilometres north of Manilla NSW on the junction of the Namoi River and Yarramanbully Creek.
Some Pictures: A nice boy, A fine man,
Manilla 1970-1989 (Cows)
Armidale and Uralla 1980 - 1990 (Education)
University of New England
Uralla and Kingstown