Coombes moved to Resolven from England before World War I and spent most of his working life in the coal mines of the South Wales coalfield, which provided the subject matter for much of his writing.
[2] They moved to Treharris in South Wales where his father took work at the Deep Navigation Colliery and Bertie attended elementary school.
He later became a groom for a local doctor but his family always struggled to pay the farm rent and in 1910, he left home and moved to South Wales to become a miner.
This literary magazine sought to break down social barriers and published works by working-class authors as well as by educated middle-class writers.
He published Coombes' short story, "The Flame", which gave a detailed description of the terrifying ordeal of a miner, lying prone in an eighteen-inch coal seam, when seeping methane is ignited by his carbide lamp while he is packing dynamite into a hole.