There is an index card for Frederick Platt in the Flintshire Roll of Honour in the County Record Office in Hawarden. It tells us very little. He died on the 16th February 1917 and was buried in Amara Military Cemetery. His parents were George and Margaret Platt. These details were the starting point for all the rest of the research.
The census of 1891 locates the family before Frederick was born. They were living in Overton, Flintshire. head of the household was George Platt aged 46. His occupation was ‘Hunter’. He’d been born in Hartfod Cheshire. His wife was Margaret aged 35, originally from Halewood in Lancashire. Their listed children were George 11 who had been born in Liverpool. John was 3 and Edmund 7 months. These two youngest had been born in Overton. John Platt is also named on the Penley memorial and has his own page on this website.
The next census of 1901 records the family at the unlikely address of ‘Cheshire Cheese’ Penley. George Platt, head of the household was 55 and was described as ‘Dealer in butter, eggs, fowl and fruit’ working on his ‘own account’. His wife Margaret was 45 and the children listed in the household were Edmund 10 and Frederick 7.
By the next census of 1911, the family had changed significantly. Margaret aged 53 had been married for 6 years to Samuel Gordon , a Farm Labourer. Presumably, George Platt had died. The only ‘child’ still in the household was Frederick Platt aged 17. He was a Corn Mill Labourer. The address was still the unlikely ‘Cheshire Cheese Penley’.
UK Soldiers who Died in The Great War 1914-19, accessible on www.ancestry.co.uk includes an entry for Frederick. It states the military details as above left. It adds that he enlisted in Wrexham and this source says that he Died of Wounds. His medal index card, also on Ancestry, lists his two medals.
The Register of Soldier’s Effects in which the Army calculated what moneys were owed to deceased soldiers so that it could be paid to the next of kin includes an entry for Frederick but unusually, it says that this account was closed by RP (I don’t know yet what RP means). No family member, therefore received the money that was owed. This source says that he was ‘Killed in Action’.