We are grateful to Nick Wheat for alerting us to an auction on eBay of an archive of material relating to a World War Two soldier from our area. Our bid was successful and we look forward to adding more photographs to our Virtual Museum shortly.

Percival Douglas Platts was born in Sheffield in 1917. His father was Percival Wright Platts who was born in the Park District of Sheffield on 15 December 1877, the only son of Arthur Stephen Platts and his second wife Jane Wright who married on 2 March 1876 at All Saints Parish Church, Ecclesall. His mother was Jane Connolly who was born in Highfield, Sheffield on 17 October 1882, the second of four children of Francis Connolly, an assistant superintendent at Sheffield Post Office, and his wife Jane Graves who married on 23 August 1881 at Christ Church, Doncaster.

Percival and Jane married on 27 July 1911 at Sheffield Parish Church. Percival was a scissors manufacturer, following his father into the family business which was started in 1845 by his grandfather George Platts (1822-1909). After their marriage, Percival and Jane went to live at 20 Tylney Road in the Park District where their first child Margaret Jane was born on 2 October 1912. Two sons followed, Francis Arthur on 4 August 1914 and then Percival Douglas on 28 May 1917. Both boys were known my their middle names. Muriel, the youngest of their four children, was born on 15 April 1921. 

By then the scissors business had moved to the City Cutlery Works, 106 Mary Street and had become a private limited company known as George Platts and Son Ltd., whose directors were the founder's two grandsons who both lived in our area. Arthur Stephen Cavill lived at The Poplars, 9 Prospect Place whilst Percival Wright Platts lived at Hillside, 98 Queen Victoria Road. Their scissors were exported all over the world and sold under the "Sailor" brand name.
                                   
Young Douglas Platts attended Dore Village School and (as the family home was in Derbyshire) Chesterfield Grammar School, no doubt travelling by train from Dore and Totley Station like many other children from our area. He was successful in the examinations for the School Certificate and he matriculated in July 1933. He then became a cutlery representative for the family business. 

Douglas was still living at home with his parents when, as required by the Military Training Act of 27 July 1939, he enlisted in the Army on 2 May 1939. He joined the 71st (West Riding) Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery and was passed fit for military service. His record shows that he was 5ft 7½ inches tall and weighed 10st. 2lbs. He was mobilized with the Regiment in September 1939 as part of the 49th (West Riding) Division, engaged in static defence duties in Northern Command.

The Division was set to deploy to France in May 1940. However, Douglas was posted to Coastal/Anti Aircraft Command and on 27 May 1940 he was formally medically downgraded to Category B5 (unfit for general service abroad but fit for base or garrison service at home or abroad). The reason for this is not known but his medical record does state that he had suffered from rheumatic fever. On 23 July 1940 Douglas was posted to HQ Anti Aircraft Command, located at Pendeford Hall, Wolverhampton and promoted to Lance Bombardier.

Douglas married Freda Mary Williams at St Michael’s Church, Bootle in Cumberland on 4 January 1941. Freda had been born in Bootle on 19 June 1911, the younger daughter of Henry Williams, a master gunner for Vickers Ltd. and his wife Hannah Mary Wilson who had married at the same church in 1906. In April 1941 Douglas was posted to 71st (East Lancashire) Searchlight Regiment in Liverpool who were tasked with the Air Defence of the North West and on 24 June 1941 he was promoted to Bombardier. Douglas's duties appear to be mainly clerical and in January 1943 he attended an Artillery Clerks' Course at Woolwich. On 15 May 1943 Douglas was posted to the 36th Searchlight Regiment, stationed at Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire.

During the war Freda lived at Swallowhurst Hall, Bootle, Cumberland and on 21 July 1943 she gave birth to a son David Alexander Platts. Douglas's Regiment was moved from Lincolnshire to Kent to deal with the threat of the VI Flying Bombs. In the spring of 1944 Douglas's brother Arthur, who was a Lieutenant in the RNVR, married Freda's elder sister Mabel Landsbrough Williams, again at St Michael’s Church, Bootle. The name Landsbrough was the sisters' mother's maiden name and it would become passed down to future generations. 

In January 1945, 36th Searchlight Regiment were re-designated as 634th (Middlesex) Infantry Regiment, Royal Artillery and on 20 May 1945 Douglas was promoted to Lance Sergeant. In June, following the Victory in Europe, 634th Regiment were attached to 61st Infantry Division and deployed to Norway as part of Operation Doomsday joining the Allied Land Forces Norway. Whilst in Norway, Douglas was promoted to Battery Quartermaster Sergeant on 20 September 1945. He was posted to A Battery 632nd Regiment on 16 October 1945 and returned to UK in December 1945. Douglas was discharged from the Regiment on 1 January 1946 and transferred to reserve. He returned home to Totley Rise and was finally discharged from the Army on 7 May 1946. 

It was whilst living at 59 Furniss Avenue that Douglas received his medals through the post. Freda and Douglas later later moved to number 97 which they had built to their own specifications. Douglas's mother died on 21 March 1950 at the age of 67. She was buried in Dore Churchyard on 24 March. Douglas's father died on 28 October 1959, aged 81 and was buried in the same grave two days later.

Son David was educated at Birkdale, where one of his close friends was (Sir) Michael Palin, and then at Cheltenham College and The Queen’s College, Oxford. He married Sarah J. Pond, the granddaughter of Lord Auckland, in Chelmsford, Essex in 1972. David and Sally a had a son Charles Alexander Landsbrough Platts who was born in Hammersmith, London in 1976. After a short period working in the family business, David became a trainee with Courtaulds but then left to become a stock broker in the City. He was a partner in a number of firms before retiring to Gloucestershire where he died at his house in Meysey Hampton, near Fairford, in 2001. 

In later life Freda and Douglas lived at 177 Dore Road. Both of them were long-lived: Freda died on 27 April 2005 aged 93 and Douglas on 15 February 2007 aged 89. They were buried at St. Michael's Church in Bootle. 

November 2021