PRIVATE RUNDLE COUMBE
3RD CANADIAN MOUNTED RIFLES
1ST DECEMBER 1915 AGE 22
BURIED: BERKS CEMETERY EXTENSION, BELGIUM
Private Coumbe's inscription references the Reverend Toplady's hymn, Rock of Ages, which begins and ends with the couplet:
"Rock of Age cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee".
In the hymn, the writer refers to God as the rock of ages, asking Him to shelter him from the guilt and power of sin:
"Be of sin the double cure,
Cleanse me from its guilt and power".
Mrs Coumbe, Private Coumbe's mother, who chose the inscription, appears to be telling God that she is hiding from the world in Him.
Rundle Coumbe was born at Underhill Farm in Cornwall in 1892. He enlisted in Canada on 8 February 1915. His parents still lived in Cornwall so I am assuming that he had emigrated.