William Cole, MD - A doctor of medicine of Oxford (Gloucester hall), of 9th July, 1666, was admitted a Candidate of the College of Physicians 26th June, 1693; and a Fellow, 25th June, 1694. He was named an Elect 9th October, 1712. Dr Cole practised during the early part of his career at Worcester, and it was during his residence there that Sydenham addressed to him his Dissertatio Epistolaris. He settled in London in 1692.

He died 12th June, 1716, aged 81, and was buried at Allesley, near Coventry, where a floor stone in the north aisle of the church bears the following inscription:-
Here lieth the body of
William Cole, doctor of physick,
who departed this life the 12th day of June,
anno dni 1716 aged 81:
And also of Jane, his wife, who departed this life the First day of
February, anno dni. 1724, aged 85.
Here, also, lies the body of Jane Cole, their daughter. She died
January 3, 1733, aged 70.
Here, also, lies the body of Ann Cole, their daughter, who departed
this life November ye 25th, 1759, aged 89.

Dr Cole is said to have been “learned without ostentation, and polite without affectation.” His portrait by R White was engraved in 1689. It bore the following lines:-
Sic micat ore salus, oculis sic mentis acumen
Ut dubites quis sit, Colus an Hippocrates.

He was the author of the following works:-
De Secretione Animali Cogitata 8vo. Oxon. 1674.
A Physico-Medical Essay, concerning the late frequency of Apoplexies; with a general Method of Prevention and Cure 8vo. Oxford. 1689.
Novæ Hypotheseos Febrium Intermittentium Symptomata explicanda Hypotyposis 8vo. Amstel. 1698.
De Mechanicâ Ratione Peristaltici Intestinorum Motus 8vo. Lond. 1693.
Consilium Ætiologicum de Casu quodam Epileptico, annexâ Disquisitione de Perspirationis insensibilis Materiâ et peragendæ Ratione 8vo. Lond. 1702.

William Munk