Dr Jonathan Couch
Polperro's most distinguished inhabitant
| Jonathan was born in the Warren, Polperro, on 15 March 1789. He was educated locally and at Bodmin Grammar School until 1803 when he became a pupil of Mr John Rice, "an eminent medical practitioner of East Looe." Five years later he entered the united medical schools of Guy's and St. Thomas's in London. On completion of his medical studies, Jonathan Couch returned to Polperro in 1810 where he settled for the remainder of his life, combining his skill and practice as a physician with his passion for natural history. |
Jonathan Couch (left) from a pencil sketch dated
1824 |
His most celebrated publication is the four volume set, Fishes of
the British Islands, the first of which was published in 1862.
It still ranks today as one of the seminal works on British fish and contains
over 250 coloured plates from original drawings by the author.Many of
the specimens illustrated were brought to Jonathan Couch by the fishermen
of Polperro and he would keep them immersed in water in order to presderve
their colours while he drew them. Copies of some of his original drawings
of fish landed at Polperro, used to illustrate his Fishes of the British
Islands, are on display at the Polperro Heritage Museum.
Throughout his life, Dr Jonathan Couch maintained a prodigious output
of published
work in a wide variety of scientific and medical journals and other publications
on subjects as diverse as religion, natural history and medicine, including
A Cornish Fauna and his Journal of Natural History of which
ten of its 12 volumes were lost for over a century.
Couch's hitherto unpublished study of Cornish birds, begun in 1829, has recently been published in a specially-edited and updated version by the Polperro Heritage Press: Jonathan Couch's Cornish Birds (click here for details).
His other most notable publication is his History of Polperro published in 1871 shortly after his death, with an introduction by his son Thomas Quiller Couch.
Further information about Jonathan Couch can be found inside the Polperro Heritage Museum
edited by Jeremy Rowett Johns, Polperro Heritage Museum © 2003
Home | Heritage Museum | People page |