I spent some more time researching my Comber family and I was saddened to find these entries in TROVE, the Australian digitised newspaper archive run by the National Library of Australia. My third great-grandfather James Robert Comber was apparently NOT a nice man.
The Sydney Morning Herald – Tues 30 Oct 1855 – Page 5 – CENTRAL POLICE COURT
James Comber was charged with having violently assaulted Elisabeth, his wife. Complainant deposed that on last Wednesday night, or rather one o’clock on Tuesday morning, after she and the rest of the family were in bed, the defendant, her husband, came home drunk, and called for a light; she went downstairs with a light to him, when without any provocation he struck her several blows with his fist, and once with the candlestick; she was violently knocked down by him, and the screams of her family brought the police to the house, and defendant was taken away; they had been thirty-eight years married, twenty of which they had been in the colony; he had never supported her since the first three months after their marriage – neither a dress nor a loaf of bread had one fo their children had of his purchasing or earning, nor a week’s rent had he ever paid; whether he ever worked she could not tell; if he did he drank the money. Committed for trial.
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The Sydney Morning Herald – Thurs 1 Nov 1855 – Page 5 – CENTRAL POLICE COURT
James Comber, charged with having committed a violent assault upon Elisabeth his wife (the particulars of which were given in Tuesday’s Herald), was brought up, pursuant to a remand at his own request, as he alleged, for the purpose of calling witnesses to contradict some of his wife’s statements, but had no witnesses to favor his cause. He was found guilty of assaulting his wife, under the late Act for the more effectual punishment of assaults upon women and children, as sentenced to be imprisoned for one month, at the end of which time to enter into recognizances to keep the peace or to be imprisoned for a further term of a month.
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Empire – Thurs 1 Nov 1855 – Page 5 – CENTRAL POLICE COURT – WEDNESDAY
James Comber was charged with committing a violent assault upon his wife, Elizabeth Comber. From the evidence it appeared that the couple had been married for thirty-eight years, twenty of which they have passed in the colony’ the defendant had for several years depended on the exertions of his wife and family for his living, and was continually drinking; on Wednesday evening, he returned in a state of intoxication to his house in Goulburn-street, and conducted himself very violently; about one o’clock the defendant called to his wife to bring him a light; she did so, and he then assaulted her in a savage manner; he struck her repeatedly, and knocked her against the foot of the bed; the family were aroused, and geve prisoner into the custody of Serjeant Taylor; the woman was so greatly injured that she was unable to attend at the Police Office until Monday; her face was much bruised, and she complainedof pains in the spine and side; she was accommodated with a chair, while giving evidence. The defendant denied the charge, and at his request the case was remanded, in order to procure the attendance of his daughters, but it appeard that they had not been witnesses of the assault. The Bench found him guilty, and sentenced him to be imprisoned for one month, and kept to hard labour; at the expiration of that period to find surities that he keep the peace towards his wife for three months, or in default, to go to gaol for one month.
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Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer – Sat 3 Nov 1855 – Page 3 – POLICE PICKINGS
Caution to Home Tyrants – a huge compound of half-man, half-brute, named James Comber, was on Wednesday convicted of a cruel assault upon the person of Elizabeth his wife, by violently striking her with his fists and a heavy candlestick, thereby knocking her down and inflicting most serious injuries upon her person. The poor woman stated that she had been married to the defendant for thirty-eight years, during the last twenty of which they had lived in this colony. Since the first three months of their marriage, he had given neither her nor his children, a dress or a loaf of bread, or paid a single week’s rent. She did not know if he ever worked; but if he did, his money went to the public-house. This noble-hearted fellow was dealt with under the late Act for the more effectual punishment of assaults upon women and children, and was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment with hard labour, at the expiration of that term to enter into recognizances to keep the peace towards his miserable wife, or to be imprisoned for an additional month.
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James was born about 1796-1798 (based on the NSW Gaol Description and Entry Books in 1845 and 1849), in England. He and wife Elisabeth married in 1815 at St Luke’s Finsbury. Ostensibly a Silk Weaver, there were two stints in the Workhouse for Elisabeth and the children until James enlisted in the 50th Regiment of Foot at the age of 30 on 24 Feb 1826. The Regiment served in Ireland and acted as Convict guards on transport ships to NSW. James, Elisabeth and their family arrived in NSW in 1834 on the ship BLENHEIM. James was discharged from the Regiment on 31 May 1836 while stationed in Windsor, NSW. Besides the mention of James in the Gaol Description books and an announcement of daughter Matilda’s marriage in 1863, there is no sign of James or of his death.