Beryl Platt, Baroness Platt of Writtle
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The Right Honourable The Baroness Platt of Writtle CBE DL FRSA FREng HonFIMechE |
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|---|---|
| Born |
Beryl Catherine Myatt 18 April 1923 Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England, UK |
| Died | 1 February 2015 (aged 91) |
| Spouse(s) | Stewart Sydney Platt |
| Children | Roland Francis Platt (1951-2014) Victoria Catherine Platt (b. 1953) |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Mathematics, aeronautics, politics |
| Institutions | Girton College, Cambridge |
| Employer(s) | Hawker Aircraft Company, British European Airways |
Beryl Catherine Platt, Baroness Platt of Writtle, CBE, DL, FRSA, FREng, HonFIMechE (née Myatt; 18 April 1923 – 1 February 2015) was a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords. Her background was in engineering, and she worked in aeronautics and aviation safety. She retained a strong interest in science and technology, particularly the role and advancement of women in these fields.
Beryl Catherine Myatt was born at Leigh-on-Sea on 18 April 1923. She was the daughter of Ernest Myatt and Dorothy Wood. Platt was educated at Westcliff High School for Girls in Southend-On-Sea, Essex where her favourite subject was mathematics. The headmistress of Westcliff predicted that this "outstanding pupil" had a university future ahead of her at Cambridge but, despite excellent exam results, the outbreak of the Second World War led to a hiatus in Platt's education. With the fear of German invasion, Platt and her family moved away from the coast and she spent a year at Slough High School for Girls (nowadays Upton Court Grammar School), where she initially gained entrance to read Mathematics at Cambridge.
In July 1941, the government announced a state bursary - including £25 per week pocket money - for engineering undergraduates in order to help the war effort, and in the hope that more engineers would be needed to re-build Britain after the war. Platt is quoted as describing this sum as "a fortune to me at the time", and chose to switch her studies to Aeronautical Engineering.
When Platt arrived at Girton College, Cambridge, she was one of five women amongst 250 men studying Mechanical Sciences (now Engineering); she was only the ninth woman to be accepted since her original predecessor in the First World War. Wartime necessity meant the course was reduced to an intensive two years, including for Platt three weeks' experience on the shop floor of the Hawker Aircraft Company. When Platt completed her engineering studies in 1943 women did not receive the same honours as their male counterparts: she was not awarded a degree, only a 'Title of degree'. It was not until five years later, in 1948, that women were admitted to degrees at Cambridge.
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