thumb|upright|alt=tall totem pole|[[Totem Pole (British Museum)|This totem pole was bought by the British Museum from Newcombe in 1903. In 1889, he moved back to Victoria and worked at the "Insane Asylum" in New Westminster. His wife Marian died after the birth of their sixth child in 1891, leaving him with two daughters and four sons.
With his eldest three children, he returned to England and participated in geological and natural history studies at the British Museum and the University of London. He ceased to practice medicine after 1894.
Newcombe began to study the botany of North America and made many trips to Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) by boat. In the process he became very interested in the Haida and started to collect their artifacts to "preserve" them from, what was then thought to be, the impending demise of the native culture.
Newcombe acquired many totem poles for the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, the British Museum, Kew Gardens, and museums in Cambridge, Liverpool and Sydney. Between 1897 and 1924, he bought at least 67 totem poles, over thirty of which were Haida.
See also
- Nisga'a and Haida Crest Poles of the Royal Ontario Museum