Dominique Albert Courmes

Dominique Albert Courmes (1843-1914) was General Secretary of the French Section of the Theosophical Society after a naval career.

Annie Besant wrote of a sketch of him:

One of our oldest members presents himself this month, M. le Commandant Courmes, of the French navy. He was born in Rouen on August 4, 1843 and at the age of seventeen he entered his country's service, and for thirty-five years he ought her battles in many seas, retiring finally in 1896, at the age of fifty-three, captain of a ship, having received many decorations, among them that of officer of the Legion of Honor, resigning all further opportunities of distinction for the sake of giving himself wholly to the service of Theosophy in France.

He had studied Spiritualism both theoretically and practically, and it was in the Revue Spirite, during 1877 and '78, that he published the first message of Theosophy in France, for in 1876 he had met some of the first writings of H. P. Blavatsky. During the struggle of the Commune in the streets of Paris, M. Courmes, then a naval lieutenant, had saved from destruction the spiritualistic records and a statue of Allan Kardec, and it may have been in gratitude for this that his Theosophical articles were accepted.

In 1879, our hero was shipwrecked on the coasts of South America and was invalided home to Toulon, where he lay sick in the Naval hospital, and was cared for by the young Dr. Pascal, the resident doctor, and formed with him the tie which made them fellow-workers in the good cause. in 1880, M. Courmes definitely joined the T. S. , and in that same year he translated Colonel Olcott's Buddhist Catechism; when, later he visited Ceylon, the High Priest thanked him for having helped to spread to the West what he called this simple but accurate exposition of a great religion.

In 1884, M. Courmes had the pleasure of welcoming Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, with whom he had corresponded since 1876, at Marseilles, and spent some days with them. Two years later he had the joy of leading Dr. Pascal into Theosophy - one of the greatest services he could have rendered both to Theosophy and to France.

He saw Madame Blavatsky shortly before her passing, in 1891, when he promised her that he would translate The Secret Doctrine into French, a great task since achieved. The French Theosophical magazine, Le Lotus Bleu, was at this time edited by M. Arthur Arnould, a devoted Theosophist, but when he died, in 1896, there was no one to take his place; and it was this which decided Captain Courmes to retire from the Navy, and give his life to Theosophy. He took up the editorship of Le Lotus Bleu, and also issued a useful Questionnaire Theosophique Elementaire, which was translated into English and Spanish, but is now out of print. It was in Le Lotus Bleu that appeared the translation of The Secret Doctrine; completed in 1910. He also translated many articles by H. P. Blavatsky, C. W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant, working indefatigably to spread Theosophical ideas. When Dr. Pascal came to Paris as General Secretary, he had the aid of his much-loved friend, and the two toiled side by side.

Writings

The Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals lists over 1000 [articles by or about M. Courmes]. Most were in the French Section's journal, Le Lotus Bleu, and a few were in other periodicals.