John Platt ) was an English manufacturer of textile machinery and Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician.

Platt was born at Dobcross

Dobcross

Dobcross is a village in Saddleworth—a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It is located in a valley in the South Pennines, along the course of the River Tame and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, east-northeast of Oldham and west-southwest of...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, the son of Henry Platt who founded Platt Brothers

Platt Brothers

Platt Brothers & Co Ltd, was a British company based at Oldham, in North West England. They were textile machinery manufacturers, iron founders and colliery proprietors, and by the end of the 19th century, had become the largest textile machinery company in the world, employing over 12,000 workers...

 textile machinery manufacturers in 1770. which by 1820 was based at Werneth

Werneth, Greater Manchester

Werneth is an area of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. It is west-southwest of Oldham's commercial centre and one of Oldham's most ancient localities.-History:...

 area of Oldham.

Platt was elected as the first Liberal Mayor of Oldham

Oldham

Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...

 in 1854 and held office again in 1855-56. By the mid 1850s his company had established itself as the world's largest textile machinery manufacturer.. Platt acquired property in Llanfairfechan

Llanfairfechan

Llanfairfechan is a town and community in the Conwy County Borough, Wales. It lies on the coast of north Wales on the route of the A55 road, between Penmaenmawr and Bangor. It previously was in Gwynedd and prior to that was in Caernarfonshire. For ceremonial and electoral boundary purposes it was...

 North Wales in 1857 and rebuild Bryn Y Neuadd as a magnificent mansion. He was mayor of Oldham again in 1861-62. In 1865 he was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Oldham

Oldham (UK Parliament constituency)

Oldham was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Oldham, England. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

. He held the seat until his death in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 at the age of 55.

Platt married Alice Radcliffe in 1842. Their daughter Mary married Thomas Hardcastle Sykes

Thomas Hardcastle Sykes

Thomas Hardcastle Sykes was an English bleacher and businessman and was High Sheriff of Cheshire.Sykes was born at Edgeley House Stockport, the third son of Richard Sykes, owner of the Sykes Bleaching Company, and his wife Jane Hardcastle. He went to Rugby School and then joined the family...

 of the Sykes Bleaching Company. Platt's younger brother James Platt (1824 - 1857), was also elected MP for Oldham in 1857, but died the same year.

External links

• John Platt monument Oldham