B. L. Coombes

Bert Lewis Coombes (1893 – 1974), originally Bertie Lewis Coombs Griffiths, was an English-born writer who spent most of his working life in the coal mines of the South Wales coalfield, which provided the subject matter for much of his writing.

Born in Wolverhampton and brought up in Herefordshire, Coombes moved to Resolven before World War I. Although his father's surname was "Griffiths", the family adopted his father's middle name, "Coombs", as a surname, spelling it "Cumbes" or "Coombes".[1]

Works

• These Poor Hands: The Autobiography of a Miner Working in South Wales (1939)
• Those Clouded Hills (Cobbett, 1944)
• Miners Day (Harmondsworth, 1945)

Further reading

• William D. Jones & Chris Williams - B. L. Coombes (Writers of Wales series) (1999)
• Bill Jones & Chris Williams - With Dust Still in His Throat: A B.L.Coombes Anthology (1999)

References

• Archives Network Wales

1. Chris Williams, ‘Coombes, Bert Lewis (1893–1974)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 10 Nov 2013