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Hello everyone, this is my first post and I have to confess that I have no known family connections in Haltham or Lincolnshire. The reason I am here is that I recently buried a good friend who died aged 94 with no known relatives. He was Albert Platt, born 1 Dec 1923 (location not yet known). What I do know is that Albert (known by his parents as Bill to avoid confusion) was the son of Albert & Jane Platt who lived in Haltham when Albert jnr was a boy. Albert jnr went to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Horncastle and that around 1940 he went to live in Ashton under Lyne where it seems other branches of the family lived. Albert's parents remained in Haltham until long after the end of WW2 when they too appear to have moved to the Ashton/Oldham area.
Albert was conscripted into the RAF in 1942 and served for about 2 years in Burma (becoming a recipient of the Burma Star medal). He developed a career in engineering and after the war, he signed on for a further period in the RAF to enhance his engineering qualifications. He was buried (at his request) with his parents at Lydgate in Oldham. I expected only a few of his friends to attend but word had got out through the Burma Star Association and Albert was honoured with the attendance of 9 Standards (the type of banner you see paraded by the Royal British legion on Remembrance parades) and about 30 veterans as well as a few friends.
He was a complete gentleman throughout his life and was widely respected by those who knew him. I did not want his memory to fade and I have begun to research his genealogy in the hope that I can leave some information about this fine old man.
Haltham has me stumped at present. I can't discover anything on Ancestry that connects him there. I do have around 100 letters that he wrote to his parents from South East Asia. The address is simply "Mr & Mrs A Platt, Haltham, Horncastle, Lincs." Occasionally Church Lane is included in the address.
It is obvious from the letters that Albert senior is or has been an engineer of some kind himself; they discuss lots of technical stuff like the heat treatment of metals. I can't see any connection between Lincolnshire Blacksmiths and Albert Senior (who may have been disabled at Gallipoli in WW1 where I believe he won a Military Medal ) and so I am hoping that your local history group may have or be able to point me at some further information.
Thank you in anticipation,
Ged Layfield
