X William COUTTS.Dear Yvonne,Thank you for your nicely worded request forinformation concerning William you would besurprised how many enquires we get from people whonever say please or thank you. I have checked thedatabases for the Cheshire Constabulary and itsConstituent Forces, i.e. those Forces that becamepart of the Cheshire Constabulary on the variousamalgamations, and we have no trace of William,however don't be saddened I think I have foundhim.Widnes at the time of William's death was part ofLancashire also given the circumstances of hisdeath I have checked two sources. Firstly,William's death is shown on the Police NationalRoll of Honour, www.policememorial.org.uk whichstates "Died 7th December 1886-Aged 36 years.Accidentally killed on the Railway after visitinga Constable at Preston" this obviously alsoconfirms he was a member of the LancashireConstabulary. Contact may be made with Mr. AnthonyRae of the Memorial Trust via the website. I amunsure what information they will hold regardingWilliam.Secondly the Lancashire Record Office holds PoliceOfficer Records.http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/education/record_office/records/policesearch.asp?criteria=jones&start=0I note from the site that two William Coutts arelisted.There is also a website known as the Black SheepIndex (www.blacksheepindex.co.uk) this is a sitethat carries newspaper articles concerning PoliceOfficers. There is an article on the death ofWilliam available. There are charges involved toobtain these newspaper cuttings direct from theowner of the website. It is emphasized that theMuseum does not know the contents of thesecuttings and takes no responsibility for them. TheMuseum is only showing this as an aid that thereis further information from another source. If youdecide you would like this article please whenrequesting it mention that you have been pointedin the direction of the site via the CheshireMuseum of Policing and whilst you won't get it anycheaper it may just speed up the process.I hope that this information has assisted you withyour enquiry and would you be so kind as to dropme a quick email in order that I can mark off yourenquiry as now being complete from this Museum'spoint. Best wishes Jim Talbot, Trustee andResearcher Museum of Policing in Cheshire.