Captain Thomas Albert Platt

Thomas Albert Platt was born in Dukinfield on April 1, 1880.

He became a Chartered Accountant. In 1906 he married Mary Armstrong and they made their home in Ashton-under-Lyne.

He joined the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, The Manchester Regiment as a second lieutenant on June 10, 1907 and was appointed to the 9th Battalion Manchester Regiment Territorial Force with rank and seniority when it was formed on April 1, 1908. He was promoted to Captain on April 20, 1912.

He sailed with the Battalion to Egypt in September 1914 and served with them during their training and preparation for action and he landed with the Battalion in Gallipoli on May 9, 1915 as second in command of “B” Company. There is no mention of Captain Platt in the Battalion, Brigade or Divisional war diaries but regimental records show that he was evacuated to hospital in Alexandria on June 24, 1915. These same records indicate that he was invalided to the UK on September 13 and struck of the strength of the battalion. The brigade war diary references that he embarked on the Hospital Ship Marathon on October 1, 1915 at Alexandria en-route to the UK. Local newspaper reports confirm that he arrived at his home in Ashton-under-Lyne during the 2nd week of October and by early January 1916 had rejoined the 3/9th Battalion in training at Codford, Salisbury Plain.

No longer fit for overseas service he was seconded to a UK post outside the regiment where he was promoted to Major on August 5, 1917. He remained seconded until the end of the war when he returned to the Manchester Regiment. He resigned his commission on April 15, 1921 retaining the rank of Major.

Major Thomas Albert Platt died in a hotel in Ostend, Belgium on September 9, 1929. He was 49 years old.