10 Facts About Jonathan Couch

Jonathan Couch was a British naturalist, the only child of Richard and Philippa Couch, of a family long resident at Polperro, a small fishing village between Looe and Fowey, on the south coast of Cornwall.

Jonathan Couch trained in succession a large number of fishermen to aid him in his pursuits, and the observations made at and near Polperro during his lifetime and since his death have not been equalled in value at any British station.

Jonathan Couch was in correspondence with many of the foremost naturalists, and especially rendered aid to Thomas Bewick and to William Yarrell.

Jonathan Couch had before this given much assistance to Bewick in his British Quadrupeds, as well as in relation to his projected Natural History of British Fishes, and Yarrell was still more indebted to him in his British Fishes, to all three editions of which Couch was a copious contributor.

Jonathan Couch contributed to Land and Water, under the signature 'Video.

Jonathan Couch translated Pliny's Natural History, with notes, and vols.

Jonathan Couch was an excellent local antiquary, as to words, customs, and remains.

Jonathan Couch left three sons by his second wife: Richard Quiller, Thomas Quiller, and John Quiller, who all became surgeons.

Jonathan Couch was a constant contributor to Notes and Queries, two series of his articles, The Folklore of a Cornish Village, 1855 and 1857, being incorporated in the History of Polperro to which he contributed a sketch of his father's life.

Jonathan Couch published lists of local words in the Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, afterwards expanded and included in a Glossary of Words in Use in Cornwall, issued by the English Dialect Society in 1880.