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Joseph Louis Coumbe - short bio, and his resting place in Belgium. - ALBUM -
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DescriptionPhoto 1:Joseph Louis Coumbe.
Photo 2:Lou's grave at Motor Car Corner in Belgium on the border with France.
Photo 3:Signpost pointing towards the cemetery in Belgium.
Lou Coumbe (Joseph Louis Coumbe) son of Edwin and Bridget Coumbe. Cousin of our great grandmother Bertha Hayden. They would have grown up together. Lou survived Gallipoli and then was killed in Ypres, France. A couple of months before he was killed he was assigned to the 3rd Canterbury Tunneling Company. He was in the infantry before that. Lou was no saint ... he periodically went AWOL and spent a few times in confinement for his antics - mind you when you read his letters you understand why. I put a poppy on Lou's grave at Motor Car Corner in Belgium on the border with France. A small cemetery out in the beautiful countryside.
The following are two letters Lou wrote home.
From “Canterbury Gully, Gallipoli” to his sister in Greymouth (either Eva or Mabel) “We arrived here from Lemnos three weeks ago last Sunday and went into the trenches a week after. We have had a good number of our men killed and many wounded. The greater number were wounded by the Turkish bombs that are thrown into our trenches. The Turkish trenches are very close to ours, in some place only five yards away, and the noise of rifles and bombs is simply terrible all night long, but you get used to it. The guns on the big warships blow into the Turkish trenches from the sea beach, and I can tell you they give them rather a hot time. I have met a lot of chaots that I know from Greymouth and Hokitika: F.Foord, G.Bedelph, D. Shand, F, Fairhall, G. Gilbert, W. O’Donnell, and dozens of others. G. Gilbert was taken away sick a few days after we arrived here and is not back yet. The stretcher bearers have a hard time – up and down gullies to the beach with the wounded to put them on board the hospital ships. T. Brown and E. Kitto are both well. The heat is terrible here in the day time, but the nights are cooler. We are eight days in the trenches and eight out doing fatigue work, making roads etc. It is a very rough place where we are. We get any amount of hard biscuits and tinned meat, and we live in bivouacs (holes dug out in the hillside). They are all right too, especially in the fine weather. We get very little rain here – a slight shower sometimes.”
Early August 1915 from Anzac Cove in Gallipoli, “Well, I have been nine weeks in the trenches now, and so far have missed the bullets but there has been a great number of our company killed or wounded since we came. We have been in the same trenches all the time, but I hear we are going to advance in a few days time. Today the shells are bursting all over the place. August 12th – We have shifted further to the left, and have had a win over the Turks, although we suffered very heavy casualties. Poor George Cottle was killed a few days ago. I can tell you I was in a very hot place a few days ago; men were falling all around me. It was terrible lucky I escaped. We were advancing up a big hill. We had over one hundred of our men killed and wounded out of one company. The Turkish snipers account for a lot being killed but they seem to be getting cleared out now. The Fifths arrived while the fight was in progress, and lost a number of their men.”
Obituary in the Grey River Argus 20 July 1917: It is our painful duty to record the death of another brave lad in the person of Private Lou Coumbe, the second son of Mrs Coumbe, of Greymouth, in the service of his King and country. The late Private Coumbe left Greymouth with the 4th Reinforcements, and had been two and a half years actively engaged in the front line. He went through the Gallipoli campaign and the Battle of the Somme without a scratch, and at the time of his death was evidently preparing for a visit to England on leave, as the day before he was killed the family received a cable from him to forward L10. This young soldier was a fine specimen of manhood, and was employed at Grant’s sawmill at Mardsen. He was keen to respond to the call of the Empire. The widowed mother, who received more than a fair share of grief during the last few years, will have the whole-hearted sympathy of this community; but this can hardly heal the terrible wound this world war has inflicted on her beloved home.”
Lew's brother Fred also died in the war - he got dysentery in Egypt. He had other brothers who also served - Arthur James Coumbe, Claude Allen Coumbe, and Christopher Coumbe. Kit (Christopher) died of influenza at the end of the war and both his brothers ended up in hospital with the influenza while they were in the army.
Their dad (Edwin - aka Ned) had died before the war so he did not experience any of this grief but poor Bridget grieved and mourned her boys. I found a visit by her to the courts in the newspaper where she argued for the army not to take another of her boys.Map[1] ContributorNicola Sutton
Photo 2:Lou's grave at Motor Car Corner in Belgium on the border with France.
Photo 3:Signpost pointing towards the cemetery in Belgium.
Lou Coumbe (Joseph Louis Coumbe) son of Edwin and Bridget Coumbe. Cousin of our great grandmother Bertha Hayden. They would have grown up together. Lou survived Gallipoli and then was killed in Ypres, France. A couple of months before he was killed he was assigned to the 3rd Canterbury Tunneling Company. He was in the infantry before that. Lou was no saint ... he periodically went AWOL and spent a few times in confinement for his antics - mind you when you read his letters you understand why. I put a poppy on Lou's grave at Motor Car Corner in Belgium on the border with France. A small cemetery out in the beautiful countryside.
The following are two letters Lou wrote home.
From “Canterbury Gully, Gallipoli” to his sister in Greymouth (either Eva or Mabel) “We arrived here from Lemnos three weeks ago last Sunday and went into the trenches a week after. We have had a good number of our men killed and many wounded. The greater number were wounded by the Turkish bombs that are thrown into our trenches. The Turkish trenches are very close to ours, in some place only five yards away, and the noise of rifles and bombs is simply terrible all night long, but you get used to it. The guns on the big warships blow into the Turkish trenches from the sea beach, and I can tell you they give them rather a hot time. I have met a lot of chaots that I know from Greymouth and Hokitika: F.Foord, G.Bedelph, D. Shand, F, Fairhall, G. Gilbert, W. O’Donnell, and dozens of others. G. Gilbert was taken away sick a few days after we arrived here and is not back yet. The stretcher bearers have a hard time – up and down gullies to the beach with the wounded to put them on board the hospital ships. T. Brown and E. Kitto are both well. The heat is terrible here in the day time, but the nights are cooler. We are eight days in the trenches and eight out doing fatigue work, making roads etc. It is a very rough place where we are. We get any amount of hard biscuits and tinned meat, and we live in bivouacs (holes dug out in the hillside). They are all right too, especially in the fine weather. We get very little rain here – a slight shower sometimes.”
Early August 1915 from Anzac Cove in Gallipoli, “Well, I have been nine weeks in the trenches now, and so far have missed the bullets but there has been a great number of our company killed or wounded since we came. We have been in the same trenches all the time, but I hear we are going to advance in a few days time. Today the shells are bursting all over the place. August 12th – We have shifted further to the left, and have had a win over the Turks, although we suffered very heavy casualties. Poor George Cottle was killed a few days ago. I can tell you I was in a very hot place a few days ago; men were falling all around me. It was terrible lucky I escaped. We were advancing up a big hill. We had over one hundred of our men killed and wounded out of one company. The Turkish snipers account for a lot being killed but they seem to be getting cleared out now. The Fifths arrived while the fight was in progress, and lost a number of their men.”
Obituary in the Grey River Argus 20 July 1917: It is our painful duty to record the death of another brave lad in the person of Private Lou Coumbe, the second son of Mrs Coumbe, of Greymouth, in the service of his King and country. The late Private Coumbe left Greymouth with the 4th Reinforcements, and had been two and a half years actively engaged in the front line. He went through the Gallipoli campaign and the Battle of the Somme without a scratch, and at the time of his death was evidently preparing for a visit to England on leave, as the day before he was killed the family received a cable from him to forward L10. This young soldier was a fine specimen of manhood, and was employed at Grant’s sawmill at Mardsen. He was keen to respond to the call of the Empire. The widowed mother, who received more than a fair share of grief during the last few years, will have the whole-hearted sympathy of this community; but this can hardly heal the terrible wound this world war has inflicted on her beloved home.”
Lew's brother Fred also died in the war - he got dysentery in Egypt. He had other brothers who also served - Arthur James Coumbe, Claude Allen Coumbe, and Christopher Coumbe. Kit (Christopher) died of influenza at the end of the war and both his brothers ended up in hospital with the influenza while they were in the army.
Their dad (Edwin - aka Ned) had died before the war so he did not experience any of this grief but poor Bridget grieved and mourned her boys. I found a visit by her to the courts in the newspaper where she argued for the army not to take another of her boys.Map[1] ContributorNicola Sutton
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Location (city or town)BelgiumPersonJoseph Louis Coumbe
Category Information
Category TagCemetery
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CommentsMary Kearney We are forever grateful to these men .
Sean Doyle Motor Car Corner Cemetery, Hainaut, Belgium
Trish Rennie I wonder if he was related to the Coumbes we purchased our first home from in Marlborough st...There was another Mrs Coumbes whom lived behind us also...interesting
Alan Mayne I have him in my family tree. He was my 1st cousin twice removed. His mother Mrs Edwin Coumbe lived in marlborough Jason Street
Sean Doyle Motor Car Corner Cemetery, Hainaut, Belgium
Trish Rennie I wonder if he was related to the Coumbes we purchased our first home from in Marlborough st...There was another Mrs Coumbes whom lived behind us also...interesting
Alan Mayne I have him in my family tree. He was my 1st cousin twice removed. His mother Mrs Edwin Coumbe lived in marlborough Jason Street
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West Coast New Zealand History (26th Mar 2020). Joseph Louis Coumbe - short bio, and his resting place in Belgium. - ALBUM -. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 22nd Apr 2026 11:26, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/27449