Platt, John, Captain, 1763-1832

The collection consists of logs and journals; orders and instructions; signal books; watch, station and quarter bills; documents relating to impressment, victualling and other aspects of the naval career of Captain John Platt; together with various items from the wider Platt family, including some sketchbooks.

Some of the items relate to other members of the Platt family, including two of John Platt's brothers who served in the Army during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Charles Platt (1770-1817) became a captain in the 50th Regiment of Foot. George Edmund Platt (1779-1850) served with the 26th (Cameronian) Regiment of Foot and following his marriage to Judith Anne Platt (the widow of his brother Charles), he lived at Denne Park, Horsham.

A sea chest, inscribed 'ROYAL SOVEREIGN', in which the papers were kept, is in the Weapons and Antiquities collection, see AAA3336.

Administrative / biographical background
John Platt was born in 1763, the eldest son of the mason architect John Platt of Rotherham (1728-1810). He was encouraged to follow in his father’s footsteps and become apprenticed to an architect or sculptor. However, he went to sea aged fifteen as a midshipman on the frigate HMS CERBERUS (1779). He was under the patronage of Thomas Lumley, third son of the Earl of Scarborough, who was later in command of the sloop HMS PORTO (captured 1780) and then the fourth rate HMS ISIS (1774), before being killed at the Battle of Trincomalee in 1782. Platt then served under Captain William Clark, remaining in the East Indies until HMS EAGLE (1774) went home in 1785. During the peace that followed the Anglo-French War, Platt found it impossible to find employment on a warship. In 1788 he was chief mate of the merchant ship HUMPHRIES (1785), for a voyage to the Bay of Honduras in the mahogany trade. In the following year he was mate of the ship that carried Thomas Howard, Earl of Effingham, and his wife to Jamaica, prior to the Earl taking up the post of governor. Platt was then able to rejoin the Navy and served in the West Indies with little intermission for ten years, initially on HMS CENTURION (1774), flagship of Admiral Philip Affleck, then on HMS EUROPA (1783), flagship of Commodore John Ford. In 1793 he gained a commission as a lieutenant. He subsequently served on HMS PENELOPE (1783), HMS ALLIGATOR (1787), HMS ARETHUSA (1781), HMS PRINCE OF WALES (1794) and HMS ROYAL SOVEREIGN (1786). While on half pay in the period circa 1805-1809, Platt was involved in the impressment of Sea Fencibles for the Folkestone district. He married Mary Clarke at Rotherham during this period. He was a superannuated commander in 1828 and was a retired commander, aged 69, at the time of his death at Hatfield, Yorkshire, in 1832.