The White Family of Australia

Educated in Adelaide, Coombe was an all-round sportsman and represented Western Australia at cricket in 1905-06. He’d followed his family westward in 1898, working for his father at first and then gaining success importing sports materials.

In 1910 Coombe teamed up with T. J. West, the British exhibitor who had the largest cinema circuit in Australia. At first he provided the venues only, beginning with the simple Melrose Gardens, at a prime location in Murray Street, Perth, which in December 1911 gave way to the barn-like Melrose Theatre and in 1922 to the elegant Prince of Wales. He built the Princess Theatre at Fremantle in 1912 and controlled several others in Perth for varying periods. When West merged with his competitors in 1913 Coombe became a partner and the local managing director of Union Theatres Ltd. In 1928 he financed the ornate, 'atmospheric' Ambassadors Theatre in central Hay Street.

As president of the Theatrical Managers' Association, Coombe raised large sums for charities. In World War I he was active on the Federal War Loan Committee and later promoted the welfare of ex-servicemen and their families. He also chaired and generously supported the Boy Scouts' Association of Western Australia. In 1921 he donated £5000 to found the Coombe scholarships, enabling six schoolboys per year to continue to upper secondary education. He also encouraged the pianist Eileen Joyce. Rumoured to have financially supported the government of Sir James Mitchell, Coombe was knighted while on a visit to Britain in 1924.

In July 1928 he retired from a managerial role but continued as a director of Union Theatres. His business suffered from the effects of the Depression and particularly from a sharp decline in cinema attendances, and in 1931 he was prosecuted and fined £100 for income tax evasion, an offence he blamed on his over-expenditure in building the Ambassadors in the lavish style demanded by American film suppliers. After Union Theatres collapsed that year, effective leadership in film exhibition passed to the rival Hoyts chain. One by one, he sold or relinquished control of his theatres, a

Although he retained ownership of the Ambassadors and other property in Perth, Sir Thomas invested in real estate, continued his interest in sport and travelled. In his last years he and his wife made lengthy visits to England, where three of his children resided. He died in a nursing home at Epsom, Surrey, England, and was cremated. His estate in South Australia and Western Australia was sworn for probate at £53,418. He also had assets in England.