Platt Abbey … another story by Tony Goulding

A friend’s request has prompted me to research the history of this building which stood on the plot of land opposite the side view of Platt Hall now occupied by two tower blocks. 

Platt Abbey 1895

A full history of its residents has not been possible, and in any case the sheer number of them over the house’s 125+ year lifetime meant the story’s length would preclude it. What follows then is a selection of stories associated with the property. 

The first people I found living in Platt Abbey, in 1830, were William Robinson, a wine and spirit Merchant of Exchange Street, Manchester, his wife Lucy and at least three children Charles, Frances, and Harriette Louisa. This information was gleaned from extensive contemporary press coverage of a “shocking murder”. On the night of Thursday 20th May 1830 Charles Robinson was shot and killed on Oxford Road, Rusholme, Manchester whilst he was walking home from a friend’s house. He did not die immediately but shortly after being helped to the residence of a local physician Dr. James Edge Partington, who happened also to be his brother-in-law. (1)

The 1861 census records the occupant off the house as Mr. James Dunn, a commission agent. In the following census of 1871, it was a cotton spinner, Mr. Charles Ogden. However, the next person of note to live in the house was the soldier, author and playwright Ian Hay. (2)

He was born in the house on 17th April 1876 his birth name being John Hay Beith, the son of a cotton merchant and magistrate, John Alexander Beith, and the grandson of a Presbyterian minister, of the same name, who was one of the founders of the Free Church of Scotland. His father was one of the attendees of the meeting on 27th June 1882 at Daniel Adamson’s house, The Towers, Wilmslow Road, Didsbury, to discuss the proposal to construct the Manchester Ship Canal.

Ian Hay (Alias of Major-General John Hay Beith C.B.E. M.C.

The residents of the house recorded in the 1881 census were the Kipping family; James Stanley, a cashier at the Manchester branch of the Bank of England, his wife, Julia (née Duval), (3) four of their children and two servants. One of these children, Frederick Stanley, was recorded as a London University student. An old boy of Manchester Grammar School and Owens Park College, he was to have a distinguished career as an eminent scientist, becoming the professor of Chemistry at Nottingham University.

 Abbey Solicitors April 18th 2026

The Kipping family moved out in March 1888, and the tenancy passed to a succession of a variety of professional people for the 6 decades before the house was demolished in 1949 to make way for the present buildings on the site.     Ernest Crewsdon, chartered accountant; Archibald Donald, physician and surgeon; Lawrence Walker, a printer, publisher, and wholesale stationer and Archie Thornhill another printer. The property also served for a period as a residential hotel.

The earliest residents, following the Robinson family, were all tenants. On of their landlords was Robert Palin who is recorded as the owner in the rate books for Rusholme Township from before 1845 until 1883. He appears to have been an absentee landlord, however, as there are no other records of him in the Manchester area. He does appear in 1881 as the plaintiff in a legal dispute with the defendant John Bebbington which resulted in an order for the sale of the property issued by The Court of Chancery.

Platt Abbey was one of five buildings on the site demolished in 1949 to make way for the two tower blocks

Until recently, it was recalled by this nearby firm of solicitors.

Frederick Stanley Kipping 

Abbey Solicitors 18TH April 2026

Pictures: - Platt Abbey 1895 m38718. Courtesy of Manchester Libraries. Ian Hay Beith – Printed in and scanned from Hay, Ian (1921). The Selected Writings of Ian Hay, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin OCLC: 1080341 Public domain. 1080341 Public Domain.

 ttps://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61676395

Frederick Stanley Kipping by Unknown author - Prabook, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16621622.

Abbey Solicitors from the collection of Tony Goulding.

Notes: -

1) Dr. Partington was married to Charles Robinson’s sister, Frances.

2) Ian Hay’s debut and most successful novel “Pip” was published in 1907. It is a coming-of-age story centred on the schoolboy title character with references to the sporting activities of Edwardian England. Further fiction was less popular and during a distinguished war service, being “mentioned in dispatches” and awarded the Military Cross, he turned to writing of his army life which provided him with a best seller “The First Hundred Thousand”. In the inter-war years, he was a very successful playwright, often in collaboration with other well-known authors: including P. G. Wodehouse, Edgar Wallace and the author of “The Four Feathers” A.E.W. Mason.

3) Frederick Stanley Kipping is best known for his pioneering work on organic compounds of silicon which led to the development of synthetic rubber. He is credited with coining the term “Silicone”. He was the Professor of Chemistry at Nottingham University from 1897 until 1936.