Charles Allen Du Val

Arthur Platt-Higgins

Arthur Platt-Higgins was born Arthur Higgins on 26 September 1852 in 1852, the son of James Higgins 1813-1882 and his first wife Anne Renshaw born 1819 (1). He was baptised at Christ Church in Salford on 1 November 1852.

In 1871 Arthur Higgins was living with his older brothers Henry Higgins and Alfred Higgins at Lyme Field House in Bollington near Macclesfield in Cheshire. In the Census Return for that year they were described as Cotton Machinery Makers, and all three were then unmarried. Nearby at Oak Bank House in Bollington, Frances Wilkinson nee Du Val was living with her husband and their family, together with her widowed brother-in-law James Francis Wilkinson and his daughter Beatrice. Arthur, the youngest of the three brothers, was later to marry Frances Wilkinson as her second husband.

The surname Platt was changed to Platt-Higgins in 1889 in accordance with the provisions in the Will of his aunt Margaret Platt who died in the previous year (2). He was a cotton spinner and property owner.

In 1892 Arthur Platt-Higgins was living at 15 Landsdowne Road, Didsbury in Manchester (3).

On 14 June 1900 he married Frances Wilkinson nee Frances Du Val, the widow of Frederick Wilkinson to whom she had been married on 9 February 1865 in Manchester Cathedral. He had been a mill owner, and they had four children (4).
Frances Du Val was born on 11 September 1846, the daughter of Charles Allen Du Val and his wife formerly Elizabeth Renney.

In 1901 Arthur Platt-Higgins and his wife Frances resided at Edgeley Mount in Edgeley Road, Stockport in Cheshire. Within them was his step-son Frederick Wilkinson, then a mechanical engineer. They had three female resident servants, and a coachman and his family living at the Lodge.

Arthur Platt-Higgins died on 7 March 1903 aged 51 years (5), and was buried on 11 March 1903 at Cheadle in Cheshire (5).

(1) The Visitation of England and Wales J.J. Howard and F.A. Crisp, College of Arms Volume 8 page 207 (1900) and the corresponding pedigree from the Notes to Volume 7. Care has to be taken in assessing the information in these Visitations however, as they may contain mistakes. For example, Elizabeth Meban was not the mother of Frederick Platt-Higgins and his siblings but their grandmother.
(2) The London Gazette Issue 26002 dated 17 December 1889 page 7279.
(3) Cheshire Electoral Registers 1842-1900 : Dukinfield Township. He owned an undivided share of eleven freehold cottages at 26 to 46 High Street in Stalybridge in Cheshire, the other owners being his brothers Frederick Platt-Higgins of Heald Road, Bowden in Cheshire, Henry Platt-Higgins of Mount House, Tetlow Fold, Cheetham Hill in Manchester, and Walter Platt-Higgins of Holmwood, Mayfield Road, Kersal in Manchester, and his relative Edward Platt-Higgins of Rathcoole, Fort William Park in Belfast.
(4) The children of the first marriage of Frances Wilkinson nee Frances Du Val were Samuel Wright Wilkinson born 1866, Florence Lawton Wilkinson born 1868, Kate May Wilkinson born 1874, and Frederick Wilkinson born 1876. In 1868 Frederick Wilkinson's brother James Francis Wilkinson had married Catherine Sarah Du Val, sister of Frances Du Val. Charles Allen Du Val exhibited a portrait of his daughter Frances Wilkinson at the Royal Academy in 1872.
(5) His Will dated 7 March 1903 was proved at Chester on 9 May 1903 by his widow Frances Platt-Higgins, the sole executrix : The Visitation of England and Wales J.J. Howard (1903) page 104.