William Henry COOMBS

COOMBS, WILLIAM HENRY (b. New Windsor, England, 1817; d. Gawler, SA, 23 Sept 1896) Anglican clergyman.

Son of an ironmonger, Coombs was trained for overseas service at St Bee's College, Cumberland, UK. Deaconed in 1846, he served a curacy at St Martins in the Fields before proceeding to SA, for which service he had been recruited by the SPG. Priested in 1848, he was promptly posted to the agricultural centre of Gawler, north of Adelaide, where he served until his death. In his mid-century evangelicalism and modest attainments he was typical of the clergy available to the SPG for colonial service. His long ministry at Gawler focussed on the erection of one of SA's grandest Anglican parish church buildings. He baptised 2300 children and conducted 700 marriages. In endowing an annual lecture on prophecy at St Peter's Cathedral Coombs revealed a characteristic evangelical interest in eschatology.

Reed, Anglican Clergymen (Gumeracha, 1986); Hilliard, Godliness and Good Order (Adelaide, 1986); Adelaide Church News 26 Sept, 2 Oct, 1886

BRIAN DICKEY