Thomas Edgeworth Courtenay

Thomas Edgeworth Courtenay (April 19, 1822 – September 3, 1875) was a member of the Confederate Secret Service and the inventor of the coal torpedo, a bomb disguised as a lump of coal that was used to attack Union steam-powered warships and transports.

Thomas Edgeworth Courtenay was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the youngest of 6 children. He was distantly related to the Courtenay family who held the title Earls of Devon and were seated at Powderham Castle in Exeter, and was a distant cousin to the novelist Maria Edgeworth, but his own family was not well-to-do. His oldest brother inherited the family property and his other siblings had all come to America to seek a better life. Courtenay came to the United States in 1842, first staying with his brother William in Vicksburg, Mississippi, before settling down in St. Louis, Missouri. He and his brother were brokers, shipping supplies down the Mississippi River to plantation owners, and buying their cotton for shipment to England. Thomas also established himself as an insurance agent, selling fire, marine, and life insurance from an office at the corner of Main and Olive streets in St. Louis.

In January, 1860, Courtenay was appointed sheriff of St. Louis county to fill out the term of Sheriff Cere, who had died in office. The office dealt mainly with civil matters such as foreclosures and sheriff's sales. Courtenay did not run for election to a full term as sheriff and was out of office by the end of August. When he left office, there was a significant shortfall in the books of the sheriff's office. Courtenay blamed the problem on his chief deputy, but the matter was Courtenay's responsibility, and the unresolved debt put a damper on his business efforts. When the Civil War broke out, he moved his family to relatives in Harford County, Maryland and established a new insurance office in Baltimore.

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