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Edward and Charles Couche were father and son.  Edward was born circa 1775 and died at the age of 78 and was buried in East Budleigh churchyard in December 1852.  He had joined the Army and was attached to the Commissariat Department in August 1806 and rose to the Deputy Commissary General level (1).  He served in that capacity in Canada at Quebec from August 1810 to October 1811, and then again between August 1812 and August 1815 (2,3) during the Anglo-American War.  

During his time in Canada he seems to have had some disagreements with the local politicians and militia who thought him an “obstructionalist”.  He had running battles with Isaac Brock and Robert Nichol in particular and on one occasion Nichol was heard to say that Couche “should be hanged!” (4).  To be fair to Couche however, the Commissariat Department had been struggling for some time with a shortage of clothing, shoes, blankets and the materials to make them, as well as of food, forage and firewood.  He had to improvise in an undermanned department and appears not have been very successful in the endeavour.  After the war he seems to have spent much of his time on half pay (1). 

After his return to England at some stage he married a lady whose Christian names were Elizabeth Ann Maria and who had been born in the Fowey/Lostwithiel area of Cornwall.  There were Couches living in Cornwall at that time so it is possible that Edward came from Cornwall.  There is a record of two of their children being baptised at St. Lawrence Exeter on 13th February 1825 (5). The children were called Charles and Edward, and Edward may subsequently have died because he doesn’t feature in any census records.  

Charles appears in census records until his death in 1906 and he was born in Caen in Normandy probably around 1823 (this date varies in different census records).  In 1925 the family were living in Bampfylde Street (6) in Exeter and Edward’s profession is recorded as “Commissary General”.  The family moved to Budleigh Salterton before 1830 because a daughter Elizabeth Ellen was born there in January 1830 but she appears to have been baptised back at St. Lawrence Exeter (familysearch.org).  She subsequently is referred to as Ellen in census returns. 

Edward appears in Pigot’s Directory in 1830 at Salterton and he was in the Voters Lists from 1832 to 1852.  I believe Edward and Elizabeth may have separated because in 1841 and 1851 Elizabeth, Charles and Ellen were living on Salterton (West) Hill and Baker’s Directory for 1845 specifically mentions “Mrs Couche and Family” on West Hill.  Edward (as “General Edward Couche”) was living at Lawn Terrace in 1845 and in Kelly’s Directory for 1850 he was in West Terrace (possibly in the same house because the road name had changed).  He died in 1852.  

His daughter Ellen married William Pester in Kensington in 1853. William was from Budleigh Salterton and his family lived in Chapel Hill. He was a tailor and draper.  Ellen died in Clifton in 1856 and William continued to work in Kensington helped by his sister Lucy who was a dress maker (also born in Budleigh Salterton). 

Edward’s son Charles stayed in Budleigh Salterton and features in all censuses “living on his own means” until his death.  In 1853 he married Caroline Taylor whose father Henry was a farmer living in Great Knowle Village.  The couple had two daughters, Ellen Anna Maria in 1857 and Emily Louisa in 1858, and then a son Edward George in 1862.  

In 1861 the family were living in Chapel Street in “The Cottage” and Charles is described as a “landed proprietor”; in 1871 his income was described as coming from “dividends and houses”.  It is likely that the family stayed in the same house over a number of years and the censuses for 1891, and 1901 show that the house was “Lyndale” on the corner of West Terrace (recently refurbished and sold).  Charles’ mother Elizabeth came to live with them at some time prior to the 1891 census and she died in October 1891 and is buried at East Budleigh. 

All three children were still unmarried in 1911and were, by then, living together again and their parents had died.  Edward had been away in London working as a bank clerk and he died in 1950. Ellen died in 1936 and Emily in 1939. 

Note on the derivation of the Couche name (7):- “This unusual and interesting name is of Anglo-Norman-French origin and is a metonymic occupational name for a maker of couches, carpets and hangings, an upholsterer and generally one who makes and supplies beds and bedding.  The derivation is from the middle English and Old French "couche" bed and "coucheour", "bed-maker", derived from "coucher" to lay down.”  

Compiled and Researched by Roger Lendon © 2010 

(1)Hart’s Military Lists.

(2)Officers of the British Forces in Canada during the war of 1812-15. By L. HOMFRAY IRVING, Honorary Librarian. Canadian Military Institute 1908.

(3) House of Commons Papers Vol. 14.

(4)Dictionary of Canadian Biography. www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?BioId=37169

(5)www.familysearch.org, and Bishop’s Transcripts at Devon Records Office (severely damaged by enemy action on Exeter Cathedral in 1942).

(6)Destroyed by bombing in 1942. Now under the Princesshay shopping area.

(7)www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Couche#ixzz0xLnHVjvh

108 BS-B-00038 Biography any