Donald Thomas Cole

Donald Thomas Cole was found dead amongst some rocks in Clevedon.

He was a journalist and had left his wife abruptly in the middle of a conversation at their flat at about 11pm on 29 May 1952. His body was then found amongst the rocks at Clevdon, over 30 miles away, two days later. His wife said that when Donald Cole left their flat that she didn't know that he was going to leave. She said, 'He did not take his outdoor clothes and I thought he was going to the kitchen, or something like that, until I heard the front door slam. I was puzzled, but not alarmed, by his sudden departure, and I waited up for him until 1.30am'.

She said that the conversation that they had been having at the time was about housekeeping money and said that he gave her £1 and said, 'That's all I can let you have this week'.

She said that Donald Cole had some small financial worries that bothered him unduly but said that she knew of no reason why he would commit suicide.

She added that he had also complained of his head and that he had told her that now and again that he felt that he was going to fall.

The pathologist that carried out his post mortem said that he had a small growth or tumour that was pressing on his brain and said that that might have interfered with his mental functions.

His inquest returned a verdict of 'Found drowned'. The coroner said that there was no evidence to show how he had come to be in the water. He said that the tumour might have been responsible for Donald Cole's peculiar behaviour in leaving his home so suddenly and that it might have brought on spells of dizziness during the course of which he might have fallen into the water.

Donald Cole had lived at 2 Cannon Square in Melksham and had been the chief reporter and sub-editor of The Wiltshire Gazette in Devizes.