Charles Platt born stoke on trent 21/10/1897

[staffordshire8th]

good afternoon to all trying to locate the service number and unit for one Charles Platt born Longton stoke on trent 21/10/1897 to parents William and Emily Platt , all i have to go on is he married Sarah Rowley on 07/01/1920 and on his certificate he was a colliery surfaceman and an ex soldier.

 

any help you can provide will help me track his war service down many thanks

 

staffs8th

[Alisonmallen62]

On 1939 register as collieryman living with Sarah will look bit further but wondering about the Royal Engineer due to his job. Not necessarily linked though. 

Edited 19 April , 2021 by Alisonmallen62
Omitted some words

[staffordshire8th]

Hi prior to WW1 worked in pottery factory as a " runner" re 1911 census it's possible he changed jobs from 1911-1914 

[Mark1959]

You may wish to consider Charles Platt. Royal Fusiliers. GS/66282. He appears in two war office casualty lists in 1918. In each case the NoK address is shown as “Longton”. 
There is an admission to 139 Field Ambulance in early Sept 1918 that gives his age as 20. So right age. This gives service as 1 year 10 month to that date. 1 year 4 months in theatre. Contusion left side wound.

The medical  record say 26th bn. RF.

The medal roll shows 

1a 17/6/17 to 11/11/17

1b 12/11/17 to 1/3/18

1a 2/3/18 to 11/1/19

 

1a is France and Belgium

1b Italy. 

 

Looking for some definitive link to your man

[PRC]

17 hours ago, staffordshire8th said:

Charles Platt born Longton stoke on trent 21/10/1897

 

Unless he lied about his age, (in which case all bets are off ), the earliest Territorial Force would have taken him was April 1915 and the Regular Army, (including the Kitchener Army Battalions) was October 1915. The War Ministry had significantly tightened up on both arms for the ages men overseas by mid-1915, so the earliest he should have gone to a Theatre of War was when he 19 - October 1916.

 

On that basis service medal wise you would be looking at men with the Victory Medal and British War Medal only.

 

Given the October 1915 date you would also be very close to the Derby Scheme and then conscription - if he hadn't already volunteered. Both throw up the possibility that your man could have ended up serving practically anywhere - by the time they were trained, most of the units that were going overseas had gone and so they provided replacement drafts.

 

The birth of a Charles Platt, mothers' maiden name Bates, was registered with the Civil Authorities in the Stoke on Trent District in the October to December quarter, (Q4), of 1897, so that also rules out men with middle names.

 

If he served overseas that leaves you with 7 potential matches judging from the MiC’s in the National Archive, some of which can hopefully be ruled out or at least parked for now. (There were no C. Platt’s).

 

180055 Gunner Royal Garrison Artillery

Victory Medal and British War Medal only. (VM & BWM only)

FMP has him as Charles Albert, aged 36 when he was admitted to Catterick Military Hospital in 1918.

 

111274 Driver Royal Field Artillery.

VM & BWM only

Surviving Service Records. He was a 19 year old from Leeds when he enlisted in October 1915.

 

2722 Private Highland Light Infantry and 64225 Private Yorkshire Light Infantry.

First landed France 26th May 1915. Discharged to Class “Z” Reserve.

 

13602 Private South Wales Borderers.

First Landed France 29th November 1914. Discharged to Class “Z” Reserve.

 

96295 Private Liverpool Regiment.

VM & BWM only

 

GS/66282 Private Royal Fusiliers.

VM & BWM only.

FMP has him as a 20 year serving with the 26th Battalion when he was admitted to the 139th Field Ambulance on the 4th September 1918 with contusions. He had been in the army 22 months and overseas for 16 of them.

Edit 20/04. Just realised @Mark1959 has taken a much shorter route to identify this likely candidate.

 

274886 & WR 26931 Pioneer Royal Engineers.

VM & BWM only

Has surviving service records. Deemed to have been enlisted 1-10-16 and called up 1-5-17.

He was transferred to Class “Z”. He was discharged to 21 Bridgewater Avenue, Salford.

 

There is also a Silver War Badge MiC for 29130 Private Highland Light Infantry

He enlisted  7/12/15 and was discharged 1/3/19 as no longer physically fit to serve. However there is an address on the card of 56 Parsonage Street, Heaton Norris, Stockport, Cheshire.

 

Of course there could be many more potentials who did not serve in a Theatre of War and so there is no Medal Index Card.

 

Hope that gets you started,

Peter

Edited 20 April , 2021 by PRC

[staffordshire8th]

16 hours ago, Mark1959 said:

Many thanks to PRC & Mark 1959 for your information its deffinitley looking like Charles was in the Royal Fusiliers there is good evidence to support this , the service number GS ? was this for members of the fusiliers or did GS mean General service, would have expected Charles to have gone into a North Staffs regt with his background from Stoke on Trent.

 

16 hours ago, Mark1959 said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may wish to consider Charles Platt. Royal Fusiliers. GS/66282. He appears in two war office casualty lists in 1918. In each case the NoK address is shown as “Longton”. 
There is an admission to 139 Field Ambulance in early Sept 1918 that gives his age as 20. So right age. This gives service as 1 year 10 month to that date. 1 year 4 months in theatre. Contusion left side wound.

The medical  record say 26th bn. RF.

The medal roll shows 

1a 17/6/17 to 11/11/17

1b 12/11/17 to 1/3/18

1a 2/3/18 to 11/1/19

 

1a is France and Belgium

1b Italy. 

 

Looking for some definitive link to your man

 

[Mark1959]

GS is General Service. In the later stages of the war enlistment in local regiments was not so prelevant - sent where needed. 

I looked for the Absent Voters List for Stoke for 1918 but there does not appear to be one. 

Struggling to fin any record that links the soldier to your Charles.

 

As Peter has pointed out there are only a few options. None other appear to be him. The evidence for the Royal Fusilier is cirumstantial. We need another bit of evidence to move from probable to certain

[PRC]

2 hours ago, staffordshire8th said:

would have expected Charles to have gone into a North Staffs regt with his background from Stoke on Trent.

 

Can't be entirely ruled out that he didn't start with a home service battalion of that Regiment. But if the length of service shown in the Medical Admissions record from September 1918 can be taken at face value he was mobilised in October\November 1916, and we know from his service medal roll that he went overseas for the first time on the 17th June 1917. At that point of the war he could well have been part of a general draft that was sent out, and after arriving at an Infantry Base Depot he could have been posted anywhere.

 

One possible route is to check out men with nearby service numbers to see if they have surviving service records, and to check those for any discernible patterns. However you may not want to go down that route untill there is something a bit better than circumstantial evidence that the right man has been identified. There could be just as many, if not more, Charles Platt's who served in the UK only and so unless they were honourably discharged early, (so qualifying for the Silver War Badge), there may be no surviving documentary evidence.

 

We only have the marriage certificate as evidence that he was an ex-soldier, and to be honest I'm surprised that a Registrar would allow that. Might be more relevant though if he was receiving an Army Disability Pension.

 

Closing off another line of enquiry, neither the Royal Fusilier or the Kings' Liverpool Regiment man appear to have a record at the International Committee of the Red Cross.

 

However it should be noted that as far as the 1901 & 1911 Censuses of England & Wales are concerned, there is only one Charles Platt recorded with any kind of connection to Longton. Not by itself conclusive - the Casualty Lists just tell us that the person informed of his wounding lived at Longton, not that the soldier himself necessarily had any connection to Longton.

 

Cheers,

Peter