Roll of Honor
Incident
At 11pm on Monday the 5th of April 1976, William signed on duty for nightshift at Forth Police Station. He was seen at this time by Constable William Gourlay, who finished at 11 p.m. As usual for this area he worked alone.
At 4.30 a.m. on Tuesday the 6th of April 1976, he called at Lanark Police Office for petrol. He was seen at this time by Constable Peter Robertson and at that time made no complaint of feeling unwell.
At around 7:05 a.m., his wife became concerned when he hadn’t woken her as usual. Unable to reach him by telephone, she looked through the office letterbox and saw him lying face down on the floor.
She alerted his colleagues and Sergeant George Brownlee and Constable Robert Donald who entered the office and found him dead, with facial injuries likely caused by falling. His body position suggested he may have been clutching his chest.
Dr. MacNeish was summoned and attended about 7.45 a.m. that same day and pronounced life extinct. Sergeant Robert Archibald, from Biggar, attended and reported the circumstances to the Procurator Fiscal at Lanark.
A post-mortem concluded that the cause of death was a cerebral haemorrhage linked to hypertension.
William he was married with two daughters, aged 9 and 5 years.
William was born on the 8th of November 1941 at Garrowhill. His father was in the army achieving the rank of Captain in the Royal Artillery. William attended Garrowhill Primary, Abbotsford Primary and Strathbungo Senior Secondary School.
William joined Lanarkshire Constabulary on the 24th of October 1966 as Constable ‘LC’134. He worked initially at Larkhall.
On leaving school he worked as a salesman with the Co-operative store at Morrison Street in Glasgow, before joining the Merchant Navy. On leaving the navy he had several jobs including a mobile Security Officer with Factory Guards Ltd of Claremont St, Glasgow.
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- April 8, 2026
- Last updated
- July 23, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Police Constable Robertson served with the Strathclyde Police.
Thank you for your service. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Constable Robertson.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Police Constable William Robertson 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 SCT, 109 of 308 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 35.4% of this state's fallen. That is 26.3 percentage points above the national rate of 9.1%.
At Strathclyde Police, 12 of 35 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 34.3% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Illness compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. William Robertson's cause is highlighted.
How William Robertson Compares
When Illness Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Illness deaths across the full memorial record. William Robertson is highlighted in Apr.
Others Who Wore This Badge
34 officers from Strathclyde Police are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.
