Roll of Honor
Incident
Collapsed and died from heart disease while on night-time foot patrol in Shepton Mallet.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-GB-SOC-A1529497- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- April 8, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
149 years is a long time for a name to go unread. Not today.
Police Constable Coles served with the Somerset Constabulary.
Thank you for your service. Gone but never to be forgotten.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Police Constable William John Coles is one of 2,974 officers lost to illness connected to their service across the full record of this memorial — 9.1% of all 32,508 officers honored here.
In ENG, 719 of 2,827 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 25.4% of this state's fallen. That is 16.3 percentage points above the national rate of 9.1%.
At Somerset Constabulary, 8 of 18 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 44.4% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Illness compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. William John Coles's cause is highlighted.
How William John Coles Compares
When Illness Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Illness deaths across the full memorial record. William John Coles is highlighted in Jan.
Others Who Wore This Badge
17 officers from Somerset Constabulary are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.
