and curators of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society, and he was for many years its president. His interesting annual addresses and many other papers on zoology by him are published in the ‘Transactions’ of that society, vols. i. and ii. He contributed the third part (on the zoophytes) to the ‘Cornish Fauna,’ written by his father; and an account of the natural history of West Cornwall to J. S. Courtney's ‘Guide to Penzance,’ 1845. Other interesting papers on zoophytes, crustacea, and fishes were contributed by him to the ‘Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall,’ the ‘Reports of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society,’ the ‘Zoologist,’ ‘Annals of Natural History,’ &c., all of which are recorded in Boase and Courtney's ‘Bibliotheca Cornubiensis,’ i. 92–4, iii. 1138. Among these may be mentioned observations on the zoophytes of Cornwall, on the development of the frog, on the metamorphosis of the decapod crustaceans, and the natural history of the mackerel in the ‘Polytechnic Reports’ for 1842 and 1844; and on the nest of the fifteen-spined stickleback in the ‘Penzance Natural History Transactions,’ ii. 79–83. He contributed to Ralfs's ‘British Desmidieæ,’ 1848, and to Thomas Bell's ‘British Stalk-eyed Crustacea,’ 1853. Couch was also interested in Cornish geology, and did useful work in developing the difficult subject of Cornish fossil remains. From 1848 onwards he was curator of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and contributed to its ‘Transactions’ several valuable papers, as well as annual reports. The diseases of the Cornish miners were a subject of his careful investigation, and his papers on the mortality of miners in the ‘Polytechnic Reports’ (1857–60) are, as far as they go, of permanent value; they were translated into French.
Couch died, in the full vigour of his powers, on 8 May 1863, aged 47, leaving a widow and four children.
[Obit. notices, Cornish Telegraph, 13 May 1863; Western Morning News, 12 May 1863 (by G. Bettany); Gent. Mag. 3rd ser. xv. (1863) 106–8; Hist. of Polperro, 1871, pp. 25–7; Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub. i 92–4, iii. 1138.]
COUCHE, WILLIAM (1732–1753), scholastic of the Society of Jesus, eldest son of William Couche of Tolfrey, near Fowey, Cornwall, by Anne, daughter of Peter Hoskins of Ibberton, Dorsetshire, was born at Tolfrey on 5 Feb. 1732 (Boase and Courtney, Bibl. Cornubiensis, i. 95). He made his humanity studies at St. Omer, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1749, but was prematurely cut off by small-pox at Liège on 23 Feb. 1753 (Oliver, Jesuit Collections, 77; Foley, Records, vi. 696, vii. 177). He was a promising member of the jesuit order, and died in the odour of sanctity. His life was written by his cousin, Father Ralph Hoskins, under the title of ‘De vita, virtutibus et morte Gulielmi Couche,’ and is preserved in manuscript at Stonyhurst College (Oliver, Catholic Religion in Cornwall, 277; Notes and Queries, 4th ser. vi. 112, 145; Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. 340). Its principal contents have been printed by Brother Foley.
[Authorities cited above.]
COULSON, WALTER (1794?–1860), lawyer and man of letters, the second son of Thomas Coulson, master painter for many years in the royal dockyard at Devonport (who died in 1845), by Catherine, second daughter of Walter Borlase, surgeon of Penzance, was born at Torpoint in Cornwall, as it is believed, in 1794. His rise is succinctly set forth in the following extract from Jeremy Bentham's life (Works, x. 573): ‘My brother made acquaintance with the father of the ——s [Coulsons], a man of cleverness and experience, and a head on his shoulders. He got an appointment in one of the dockyards. He had two sons, W—— [Walter] and T—— [Thomas]. I took W—— first, who was with me two or three years. He was forward but cold, yet I once drew tears from his eyes. He became reporter to the “Chronicle,” which was his making. T—— was a good boy, who died young’ [1813, when aged 22]. Coulson acted as amanuensis to Bentham, and it was no doubt through Bentham's influence that he obtained a place as parliamentary reporter on the staff of the ‘Morning Chronicle.’ James Mill and Francis Place, the famous Westminster reformer, were among his earliest friends, and the first writings of John Stuart Mill appeared in the ‘Traveller’ in 1822, then the ‘property of the well-known political economist, Colonel Torrens, and under the editorship of an able man, Walter Coulson.’ That paper was united with the ‘Globe’ in 1823, and Coulson was appointed the editor of the dual organ, with the salary of 800l. a year and a share of the profits, continuing for some time as the reporter of the ‘Chronicle.’ When the new venture became successful, he retired from reporting and confined himself to editorship, which he prosecuted with such zeal and ability as to raise his paper to a high pitch of prosperity. He now determined upon studying for the bar, and was duly called at Gray's Inn on 26 Nov. 1828, becoming a Q.C. in July 1851, and a bencher of his inn in November 1851. Con-
