Percy Platt - Illegitimate/Adopted Bolton 1898

[Waterloo24]

Hello and thanks for the replies, I will try and reply to all questions below.

I did get grandads birth certificate and his marriage certificate but no father on either.

We have ordered his full military records ( which take months) but I can confirm he was registered as Percy Thomas Platt in the Lancashire Loyal Regiment. He served in WW1 and was stationed in Singapore at the outbreak of WW2 (my mother, grandmother and uncle were evacuated from there just before war broke out)

His mother was Margaret Ann Platt (said she was from Barton Bolton which I may be misreading) and he was born at 44 Silverwell Lane on 19/09/1898 which is where he stayed with Mary Hughes. Margaret was not there in 1901 but I did find a Margaret Platt as a cotton winder age 21 at 33 raphael St, Bolton.

I think she was born in 1880 as I have found a Margaret Ann Platt on the BMD for Jan/ Feb/ Mar 1880 in Bolton - obviously I don't have the date or certificate.

I did see Maggie Platt and had made the welsh connection with Mary but I wondered if she was Maggie why she would revert to Margaret. I also thought maybe Mary and Elizabeth travelled to Bolton together but again I am just speculating.

I did try and search marriages for Margaret but the only one that seems likely was to a John Knowles but I cant make it fit properly. Mum seemed pretty sure the brothers were Platt's also but her memory was not great.

The will I found was for his "adoptive" mother Mary Hughes. I suppose I just felt a little sad that after caring for him from birth he was left penniless and alone at 14   

Hope that helps a bit

Thanks again all

[avm228]

Welcome from me too

An online tree has his mother Margaret Ann Platt marrying a John Knowles in Bolton 2 Apr 1904 and having sons John and James Knowles with him.

No dates for them, though. Perhaps this was your tree?

[Waterloo24]

Welcome from me too

An online tree has his mother Margaret Ann Platt marrying a John Knowles in Bolton 2 Apr 1904 and having sons John and James Knowles with him.

No dates for them, though. Perhaps this was your tree?

Was just going to say that might be me trying different ideas on ancestry ... I tried adding John Knowles and that surname for the brothers as he seemed the likeliest marriage (if any). I was hoping they would come up as a match in another tree but sadly not.

A distant cousin had Margaret married to John Knowles but when I questioned her she was also just guessing !! 

Thanks

[avm228]

If the mother is Margaret Ann Platt (not "formerly Hughes") the link to the 1880 birth for Margaret Ann Hughes seems odd.  Is there any reason to think she was a Hughes or related to Mary at all?

[Craclyn]

I was just about to ask a similar question to avm228 but from a slightly different angle. If you think she was born Margaret Ann Hughes have you looked for Margaret Hughes on censuses and for a marriage to a Mr. Platt?

[Waterloo24]

If the mother is Margaret Ann Platt (not "formerly Hughes") the link to the 1880 birth for Margaret Ann Hughes seems odd.  Is there any reason to think she was a Hughes or related to Mary at all?

Sorry I just saw I did that - now amended

I was getting my Margarets and Marys all muddled .... the BMD was for Margaret Ann Platt

[heywood]

This puts my theory of Hughes/ Platt out.

I think Margaret is the daughter of Elizabeth Atherton and William Platt. All the children in the censuses can be see on Lancashire BMD births.

[avm228]

Ok then.

Well the 1880 birth reg was in Barton, not Bolton. Could be promising given the Barton reference on the birth cert.

[avm228]

I think Margaret is the daughter of Elizabeth Atherton and William Platt. All the children in the censuses can be see on Lancashire BMD births.

Hmmm. I was about to say born Eccles of Joseph & Elizabeth A.  In Barton district in 1881

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XQFM-711