Benjamin George Platten
Continuing the lives of our fallen on the memorial boards, I found Benjamin George Platten. However, this turned out to be somewhat different to the others I have been following, because unlike the others he was not in the military. He was an air raid warden.
Born in 1893, the census records of 1911 showed he resided at 116 Forest Road Loughton. His mother named Sarah is shown as head of household and is widowed, he had a brother John. He was 18 and his brother a year younger. He was shown as being a student school teacher (Loughton School?).
No further information was found, until November 5th 1941, the day he died, when he was living at 7 Forest View Road, Loughton, so he didn’t move far. He was injured at the High Road Loughton and taken to St Margaret’s Hospital where he died the same day. He left a widow Mrs. A. F Platten. I could not find if death was during an air raid, or if it was just an accident, (road accident possibly).
I did find the following, but cannot definitively link it to Benjamin’s death “Also killed by “friendly fire” was PC Albert Hinds, blown up outside Loughton Police Station by a shell from an anti-aircraft battery in Nursery Road. Two A.R.P. men nearby died later from their injuries.”


