Richard Platt (brewer)
Richard Platt (c. 1525 – 28 November 1600) was an English brewer in the City of London who served as Sheriff of London and founded Aldenham School and almshouses in his home village of Aldenham, Hertfordshire.
Little is known about his early life. He was the son of Hugh Platt of Aldenham and was apprenticed to a London brewer. A portrait from 1600 shows he was in his 76th year, which helps confirm his birth around 1525.
Platt became a master brewer of the Worshipful Company of Brewers and owned the Old Swan brewery in James Street, London. He was Master of the Worshipful Company of Brewers in 1576 and 1581 and also became an Alderman of London.
In 1591, Platt was a governor of Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, at Tudor Hall, and by then a citizen of London who had served as Sheriff of London.
In 1596, Queen Elizabeth I granted him letters patent to build at Aldenham a Free Grammar School and Almshouses. The foundation stone was laid in 1597 at Boyden’s Hill, Aldenham. By a deed dated 18 January 1599, Platt endowed the grammar school and six almshouses with land at Aldenham and about twenty acres of pasture at St Pancras, plus woodland there, placing the endowments under the care of the Brewers’ Company.
Platt’s son Hugh studied at St John’s College, Cambridge. Platt arranged that when there was a vacancy for Master of the grammar school, the college would 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 of £20 a year (about £5,600 in today’s money).
Richard Platt died on 28 November 1600 and was buried on 4 December at St James Garlickhythe, London. In his will, he asked the Brewers’ Company to pay beer money to the boys of his grammar school because the water was not safe to drink. Today, pupils at Aldenham School still visit Brewers’ Hall once a year to receive £5 each.
Platt married Alice, daughter of John Birchells of Birchells, Leicestershire. Their children included Sir Hugh Platt, author of Kirby Castle in Bethnal Green; Hugh’s son William Platt (died 1637) of Highgate founded fellowships at St John’s College, Cambridge.
His coat of arms was described as “or fretty sable plattée,” with a crest of “a demi-lion rampant proper holding in the paws a plate.”
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 22:58 (CET).