The spy who became a monk

On 6 November 1989, Dom Joseph Coombe-Tennant died at Downside Abbey, near Bath, where he had lived since 1961. He was 76. The serenity of his life at the Abbey was in stark contrast to the turmoil he had experienced at earlier stages of his remarkable life.

He was born in 1913 at Cadoxton, Neath, the fourth child of Charles and Winifred Coombe Tennant. The names chosen for him were Augustus Henry Serocold Tennant – the “Coombe” was added much later by deed poll. He was referred to formally as “Henry” by the family, though “Wise One” was their nickname for him even as a young child.