Author: Coombe, Sarah Matilda
Biography:
COOMBE, Sarah Matilda, formerly WEST (1785-1849: findmypast.co.uk)
She was born on 21 Aug. 1785 and baptised on 28 Dec. at Axbridge, Somerset, the daughter of Levi West (1761-97), an attorney and later the Town Clerk, and his wife Sarah Vallis (1751-99), who had married in 1783. She married Alfred Coombe, an attorney, on 15 Dec. 1814 at Uphill, Weston super Mare, Somerset. They had twin sons, baptised in Taunton in 1818, but only one, Edward West Coombe (1818-60) survived infancy. She signed the Preface to her only known work, Auristine (Portsea 1829), from Bath Cottage, Farnham, Hampshire, but later moved to Lambeth, London. At an unknown date her husband had “neglected his family and attached himself to a worthless female,” leaving her and her son unprovided for (RLF). She was left with only rental income of £30 p. a. from a small property although she had once been a “Lady of fortune” and had £10,000 when she married (RLF). It is not known what happened to her wealth. She applied to the RLF for assistance on 5 Nov. 1846, describing herself as “unfortunately married,” but her literary merits were deemed insufficient and no award was made. She died from cholera on 12 Oct. 1849 at 56 Cornwall Road, Waterloo, Lambeth, with an error on her death certificate giving her son as her husband, Edward West Coombe, solicitor. (findmypast.co.uk 8 Jul. 2012; RLF 1/1152; Sherborne Mercury 10 Sept. 1850) AA