Richard Platt (c. 1525 – 28 November 1600) was an English brewer of the City of London, who served as Sheriff of London and founded Aldenham School and almshouses in his home village in Hertfordshire.
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Life
editLittle is known of Platt's early life, except that he was the son of Hugh Platt, of Aldenham, and was apprenticed to a London brewer.[1] His date of birth can be inferred from his portrait, which says he was in his 76th year in 1600.[2] He became a master brewer of the Worshipful Company of Brewers[3] and the owner of the Old Swan brewery in James Street, London. In 1576 and 1581 he served as Master of the Worshipful Company of Brewers.[4] He also became an Alderman of London.[5]
In 1591, Platt was appointed as a governor of Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet, at Tudor Hall, and was then a citizen of London who had served as Sheriff of London.[1]
In 1596, Queen Elizabeth I gave Platt letters patent to build at Aldenham a "Free Grammar School and Almshouses", and a foundation stone was laid in 1597,[6] at Boyden's Hill, Aldenham.[7] By a deed dated 18 January 1599, Platt endowed two charities, the grammar school and six almshouses,[1] with land at Aldenham and some twenty acres of pasture at St Pancras, and woodland there, placing the endowments in the care of the Worshipful Company of Brewers.[7]
Platt's son Hugh Platt had been educated at St John's College, Cambridge, and Platt gave instructions that when there was a vacancy for a Master of the grammar school, the college was to nominate three Masters of Arts, from whom the Brewers' Company would appoint one. He also provided a house, with a garden and orchard, and a salary to go with the position of £20 a year,[5] equivalent to £5,633 in 2023.
Platt died on 28 November 1600[1] and was buried on 4 December at St James Garlickhythe, London.[8]
In his will, Platt provided for the Brewers’ Company to pay the boys of his new grammar school beer money, as the water was not safe to drink.[3] Pupils at Aldenham School continue to visit Brewers' Hall once a year to receive £5 each.[3]
Wife and descendants
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Platt married Alice, a daughter of John Birchells, of Birchells, Leicestershire. His children included Sir Hugh Platt, an author of Kirby Castle, Bethnal Green,[4] whose son William Platt (died 1637) of Highgate, was the founder of fellowships at St John's College, Cambridge.[1]
Arms
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Platt's coat of arms was blazoned "or fretty sable plattée", with a crest of "a demi-lion rampant proper holding in the paws a plate".[1]
Notes
edit- ^ a b c d e f "PLATT, Richard, gent." in Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archæological Society, Vol. 5 (Bishopsgate Institute, 1881), p. 74
- ^ Thomas Allen, The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark, and parts adjacent, Vol. 3 (1828), p. 491
- ^ a b c Emma Hutchings "The school of beer drinking", Borehamwood & Elstree Times, 18 May 2006, accessed 4 February 2021
- ^ a b Malcolm Thick, Sir Hugh Plat: the Search for Useful Knowledge in Early Modern London (Prospect Books, 2010, ISBN 9781903018651), p. 5
- ^ a b "Richard Platt, Alderman" in Alfred Freer Torry, Founders and benefactors of St. John's college, Cambridge (Cambridge: W. Metcalfe & Son, 1888), p. 14
- ^ "Aldenham" in William Page (ed.), A History of the County of Hertford, Vol. 2 (Victoria County History, 1908), pp. 149–161, archived 2 February 2009 at archive.org
- ^ a b Nicholas Carlisle, "ALDENHAM near Watford" in A Concise Description of the Endowed Grammar Schools in England, Vol. 1 (Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1818), p. 528
- ^ Parish Register of St James Garlickhythe, p. 96 ancestry.co.uk, accessed 4 February 2021 (subscription required)
External links
edit- Aldenham Richard Platt, hertsmemories.org.uk