Laurence Platt

Born: 2 Feb 1818, Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England
Christened: 31 May 1818, Butterworth, Lancashire, England
Marriage (1): Mary Ann Whitehead Dec Q 1843 in St. Ebenezer Chapel, Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England
Marriage (2): Eliza Buckley on 14 Jun 1851 in Ebeneser Chapel, Uppermill, Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England
Died: 17 Sep 1886, Isipingo, Natal, South Africa aged 68

Family Links

Spouses/Children:

bullet Birth Notes:

http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/BritishFamiliesInSouthAfrica/page_00121.pdf

And

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V5J2-CJB

bullet Christening Notes:

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/V5J2-CJB

bullet Death Notes:

http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/Dictionary%20of%20South%20African%20Biography/page_03846.pdf

And

http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/British%20Families%20In%20South%20Africa/page_00121.pdf

And

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7P-2QCJ-5?i=756

bullet Sources of information or noted events in his life were:

• Web Based Info. http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/Dictionary%20of%20South%20African%20Biography/page_03846.pdf

And

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS72-L3J5-Y?i=96

• Census: UK, 1841. http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=uki1841&indiv=try&h=12175927

• Census: UK, 1851. http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=view&r=5538&dbid=8860&iid=YRKHO107_2290_2290-0692&fn=Edward+Ashworth&ln=Platt&st=r&ssrc=&pid=10575971
In this census he is shown as a widower.

• Census: UK, 1881. http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=uki1881&h=9512374&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=8860
In this record he is shown as a Sugar Planter on a visit to England

And

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=view&r=5538&dbid=7572&iid=LANRG11_3752_3756-0043&fn=Laurence&ln=Platt&st=r&ssrc=&pid=9512374

• Occupation, 1851. Milk Agent
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=view&r=5538&dbid=8860&iid=YRKHO107_2290_2290-0692&fn=Edward+Ashworth&ln=Platt&st=r&ssrc=&pid=10575971

• Coat of Arms. Coat of Arms
Sable, semee of plates, a fret couped or between four roses in cross argent.
Mantling sable and argent. Crest: in front of a demi-lion proper, semee of plates,
holding between the paws a rose argent, an escallop or. Motto: Virtute et labore
(Coll. of Arms). FD.

Name Meaning
Meaning: Living by a small patch of land or a footbridge.

• Will. http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/BritishFamiliesInSouthAfrica/page_00121.pdf

• General Comment. Lawrence, b. Saddleworth, ca. 1818, d. Isipingo, Natal, 17.9.1886. Son. Edward
A. Platt. Arr. 1851 [In South Africa] on the Bellona. Sugar pioneer and industrialist. Name of first wife unknown; rem. Eliza Buckley, 6 c.

http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/BritishFamiliesInSouthAfrica/page_00120.pdf

And

http://ancestry24.com/wp-
content/uploads/pages/BritishFamiliesInSouthAfrica/page_00121.pdf

• General Comment. ISIPINGO UNDER THE BRITISH 1844
Land at this time had no particular value. Africa was vast and there was enough space to spare for all. Five hundred acres could be exchanged for a bag of coffee.•Later Sydney Platt arrived at Isipingo paradise (Slayter, 1961; Osborne, 1964; Clark, 1972). His brother Lawrence bought 250 acres to plant beans which swamped the market. Children under 14 were also allowed to buy land for half price and were given ten acres. The coast was a waste of sand-dunes, covered with bush and succulents. It was thickly wooded with kaffir booms, flat crowns and strelizias (Slayter, 1961; Osbome, 1964; Bird, 1965).

http://uzspace.uzulu.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10530/825/The%20origin,%20growth%20and%20future%20of%20the%20borough%20of%20isipingowith%20special%20reference%20to%20enviromental%20ma.pdf?sequence=1

• General Comment. http://www.genealogyworld.net/rose/nuggets/pioneers.htmll

SIDNEY & LAWRENCE PLATT

These Yorkshiremen arrived in Natal within a year of each other, possibly attracted by cotton prospects in the Colony. Sidney, however, bought land at Isipingo in 1849 and Lawrence secured 50 acres near his brother's property, naming the farm Prospecton. At first the Platts, like many other early farmers, grew beans as a cash crop, but in 1852 Lawrence joined Mack and Birkett, also of Isipingo, in sending an ox-cart to Morewood at Compensation to buy cane-tops. Lawrence Platt's first mill, like his brother Sidney's, was ox-powered but they each soon acquired a steam mill.

Lawrence Platt died in 1886, and his work was continued by his youngest son Alfred, born in 1853, to whom he had given Prospecton at the end of the Anglo-Zulu War 1879. Alfred Platt died in 1938 - in 1945 the Prospecton Estate was amalgamated with Tongaat Sugar Co Ltd, with Cecil Platt, grandson of Lawrence, as a director. Cecil died in 1950, aged 68.

• General Comment. Dennis Compton cricketer married his ?X great grandaughter Valerie and had children.

• General Comment. Platt, Lawrence
(*Prospecton, Saddleworth, Eng., c. 1818 - †Isipingo, Natal, 17.9.1886), sugar pioneer and industrialist, was the son of Edward Arthur Platt and was educated in England where at an early age he went into business and became interested in the managerial side of the coal industry. Persuaded by his brother Sidney, who had arrived in Natal in 1848 or 1849, P. came to Natal with his second wife Eliza Buckley in the Bellona in 1851.

Very industrious and self-reliant, P. bought a small-holding near Isipingo and grew vegetables, especially beans, for the Durban market until this venture proved unprofitable. He then turned to sugar planting and along with others such as J. Mack, L. Birkett, M. Jeffels, and W. Joyner bought cane tops from E. Morewood and planted them on his Prospecton estates which he gradually extended in area. P. was one of the few original sugar pioneers who carried on planting for several decades and conceived the idea of a large estate, which remained in the hands of the family until purchased in 1945 by the Tongaat Sugar Company. For several years he was associated with R. King of Grahamstown-ride fame, in his sugar planting and milling.

P. pioneered the introduction into Natal of the multi-tubed boiler for refining sugar. This consisted of a boiler traversed with numerous tubes of brass or iron fitting into the tube plates of the fire and smoke boxes, through which the hot gases passed from the fire box on their way to the chimney, causing circulation and raising the temperature of the water in the boiler during their progress. It was a decided improvement on the earlier tubulous type, which was merely a boiler set in brickwork with a fire grate underneath, the hot gases running in flues along the outside, One of the Natal planters who saw the advantages of replacing out-dated milling equipment at regular intervals, he concentrated more and more upon the milling rather than the growing aspect of sugar. In 1878 he pioneered the installation of the 'concreter' milling plant, which resulted in the formation of a solid, as opposed to a crystalline, product from the sweet liquid sugar. The solid or 'concrete' product was suitable for export.

In 1880 P. retired from his planting and milling and handed over his estate to his son Alfred. He went overseas to settle but later returned to Natal. P. was regarded as one of the 'fathers' of the town of Isipingo and was one of the few who assisted Michael Jeffels to establish the first Anglican church and school there. A keen churchman, he was also one of the very early South Coast proponents of responsible government for Natal, and a justice of peace for the Durban district. However, he refused to stand for parliament.

P. was married twice. There was a son of the first marriage and five children of the second, to Eliza Buckley. One of the daughters died in infancy. A photograph of P. appears in the Sunday Tribune of 17.11.1935.

http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/Dictionary%20of%20South%20African%20Biography/page_03847.pdf

• General Comment. There are a number of records which say his father was Edward A. Platt or Edward Arthur Platt.

http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/Dictionary%20of%20South%20African%20Biography/page_03846.pdf

I believe his father was James Platt.

There is a convincing argument in the name of his son Edward ASHWORTH Platt. James Platt's wife was Betty Ashworth.

The Census of 1851 in the UK proves beyond doubt his father was James Platt.
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=view&r=5538&dbid=8860&iid=YRKHO107_2290_2290-0692&fn=Edward+Ashworth&ln=Platt&st=r&ssrc=&pid=10575971

• Children. He had 6 children.

P. was married twice. There was a son of the first marriage and five children of
the second, to Eliza Buckley. One of the daughters died in infancy.

http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/Dictionary%20of%20South%20African%20Biography/page_03847.pdf

And

http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/British%20Families%20In%20South%20Africa/page_00121.pdf

• Coat of Arms. Sable, semee of plates, a fret couped or between four roses in cross argent. Mantling sable and argent. Crest: in front of a demi-lion proper, semee of plates, holding between the paws a rose argent, an escallop or. Motto: Virtute et labore. (Coll. of Arms).

http://ancestry24.com/wp-content/uploads/pages/British%20Families%20In%20South%20Africa/page_00120.pdf

• Siblings. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SOUTH-AFRICA-IMMIGRANTS-BRITISH/2003-06/1055168058
Lawrence had a sister Serena

Laurence married Mary Ann Whitehead Dec Q 1843 in St. Ebenezer Chapel, Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England. (Mary Ann Whitehead was born in 1817 in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England, christened on 9 Apr 1817 in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England and died Sep Q 1844 in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England.)

bullet Sources of information or noted events in their marriage were:

• General Comment. In the 1851 Census Edward Ashworth Platt was about 6.

And

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/igi/individual_record.asp?recid=100021617185&lds=1®ion=2

Laurence next married Eliza Buckley, daughter of James Buckley and Ann Bradbury, on 14 Jun 1851 in Ebeneser Chapel, Uppermill, Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England. (Eliza Buckley was born Cal 17 Oct 1822 in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England, christened on 27 Oct 1822 in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England and died on 31 Jan 1907 in Durban, Natal, South Africa.)

bullet Sources of information or noted events in their marriage were:

• Web Based Info. http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=rp3zm2V3Bjb5cj4O6VOb3w&scan=1

• General Comment. Copy of marriage cert in RAB's possession.

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There will inevitably be errors and omissions and the whole purpose of creating this online record, is to invite feedback and corrections.
The data is specifically for non-commercial use and my clear intention is to build family records. The data may, therefore, not be used in any way for the purposes of financial gain.

Caveat:- Throughout the project UK GRO birth, marriage and death index data appears. The GRO data appears in Quarters. Q1 = January, February and March, Q2 = April, May, June , Q3 = July, August and September and Q4 = October, November and December. Similarly, Mar Q = January, February and March, Jun Q = April, May, June , Sep Q = July, August and September and Dec Q = October, November and December. Where these dates occur, they represent the date of Registration of the event rather than the date of the actual event. Logically, registration occurs AFTER the event. In some cases this may be days or months or even years after the event. The important thing is that the event was recorded and a copy of the document of registration could be obtained if necessary. This also applies to South African NAAIRS records.

Similarly, the UK system is confusing to the uninitiated because registration districts can span several counties. Accordingly GRO locations may not record the true location of the event. They do record where the record is actually kept or recorded.

Caveat #2:- I have used URL's throughout the website as sources. The URLs are often from paid subscription sites so you may not be able to access them without an account. Inevitably there are broken URL's. I have been to every URL recorded here and at the time they were operational. In this regard, the Ancestry24 records are a problem. There are numerous references in the South African data citing Ancestry24 records. Unfortunately Ancestry24 has closed down and these records are no longer available on line.

The early South African records on this site would not have been as good as they are without the work done by Delia Robertson. Where there are website addresses containing http://www.e-family.co.za... I record the citation should read Robertson, Delia. The First Fifty Years Project. This website can be found at First Fifty Years