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The two Luton Cemetery registers appear to be viewable in Luton Library.  I moved away from the area a while ago otherwise I'd have looked for you.  The Bedfordshire Family History Society have transcribed and published the General Cemetery register on CD for £8.  You could ask them to do a free lookup for you....  https://www.bfhs.org.uk/publications.pdf See page 8

Thanks, Sc00p. I wrote to them last week. Still awaiting a reply.

Another thought - Alf/Albert may have been redeployed within the railway company.  At the same time they were closing the dining cars they would have been loosing staff who either volunteered at outbreak of war, or were mobilised with the Territorial Army.

Hi

Yes, its possible he was redeployed. But if we accept that in 1939, the Albert Wilson, identified as a Pub Caretaker in Camden is the same man as Albert Spiers, then this confirms that by then he was no longer a railway dining car attendant - as you say, possibly due to the closure of the dining cars.

So in reality, I'm looking for evidence of employment in London from around 1927 to 1938/9

Bob

Thank you for your post, tonepad.

The basic info is that he was apparently born in Birmingham and moved to London around 1928, where he had his children. We believe he was originally christened Albert Sydney Spiers, and changed his name to Alfred Wilson around 1928  The wife (also from the Midlands) and kids moved to Luton in 1939 as part of the evacuation plan - he stayed in London.

Sometime after 1939 - 1941 he was diagnosed with TB. As the family were in Luton, he ended up in St Mary's hospital TB wing, where he died in Aug 1943.

In 1944, his wife and kids moved back to the Midlands, so its not possible he could be buried any where except the Luton area. Of course he could have been cremated.

Bedford Archives hold no records, or are closed  under the 100 year rule.

I have telephoned St Mary's to see if they have an archive or may know any basic historical facts, but frankly the receptionist was unable to think of who to refer me to.

My questions are:

1. What where the normal protocols for body disposal at St Mary's - was cremation a thing then?
2. Burial or cremation, where are local records held that might identify his final resting place?

I'm hoping that someone on this thread has an idea of how to answer these, or has experience of this kind of research. 

You mentioned a few weeks ago that you bumped into your mother's sister, I wonder if it's possible to have another chat with her.  As we have found, the smallest snippet of information can lead to another avenue of research.  Often people remember small things which they don't feel are important enough to mention, but can sometimes come out in a casual chat.

Hi Jool

No, I don't think Betty has anything to offer. She is 4 years younger than my Mother and is even less aware of her Father, or where they were in those early years.

She only added the part of Madge being in London as Hotel worker based on a memory of an argument with Madge about jobs and work - seems Madge never talked about her past and the siblings were not curious enough to ask. What I do know is that Eric spent years trying to find his father, but was on the wrong track because until Madge's claim that 'he was a Spiers' he never found anything out. All present at the time simply thought it was just an unconnected Alzheimer's outburst. 

N.B. Another potential line of enquiry is the prison record of the Albert Spiers in 1926 ish. Where did he serve his sentence? I don't know where to look for this record any further than I've already tried. If it exists it should contain much detail about him.

I appreciate the support

Bob