Thomas Carill-Worsley (1739-1808) lived at Platt Hall from 1764, when the Hall was first built, until his death in 1808.
Worsley was born Thomas Lees, son of textile merchant John Lees. In 1744 John Lees married Deborah Worsley, heiress to the Platt estate. As John and Deborah had no children of their own, Thomas was adopted as heir to the estate and both father and son changed their name to Carill-Worsley. Thomas Carill-Worsley was in his 20s when the Hall was being built, and may even have been involved in discussions over its design and construction. He lived here for the rest of his life. Little else is known about him, other than that he was a businessman with interests in lead mining in Derbyshire, and that he married Elizabeth Norman in 1791, with whom he had five children. Unusually, more is known about his fashion sense. In 1954 his great-granddaughter, Mrs Clementia Tindal-Carill-Worsley, donated a trunk of clothing belonging to her great-grandfather, all from the 1780s. The suits, dressing gowns, waistcoats and shoes suggest that by this time in his life, Mr Carill-Worsley had become rather more well-built than the slender youth of this earlier portrait. |