I've just read this in our works newspaper the Courier. A postman killed in the London Blitz during World War II was remembered on the 70th anniversary of his death last month. Robert Spire , who cheated death in the Great War when a tin in his pocket stopped a bullet , was among 41 killed when a bomb fell on an air raid shelter in Tottenham in 1940. Keiran West, deputy delivery office manager where Robert worked , joined survivors and relatives at a remmebrance service. 'I was honoured', he says. CWGC :: Casualty Details Name:SPIRE, ROBERT JAMES Initials:R J Nationality:United Kingdom Rank:Civilian Regiment/Service:Civilian War Dead Age:52 Date of Death:20/09/1940 Additional information:Husband of Norah Kathleen Spire, of 9 Higham Road. Injured 19 September 1940, at Lordship Lane; died at North-Eastern Hospital. Casualty Type:Civilian War Dead Reporting Authority:TOTTENHAM, MUNICIPAL BOROUGH
42+ Tottenham Civilians killed by a direct hit on the 2nd World War 'Downhills' air-raid shelter in the Rec on 19th September 1940. It was the largest single death toll in Tottenham during the war, but had been largely forgotten until recently, most of the victims having gone unrecorded. It is believed that 300 people had been in the shelter - most of them from streets around the Rec, and there were many more than 42 killed The 'Downhills' shelter was sited where Lordship Woodland now stands, at the southern end of Lordship Recreation Ground (by the Downhills Park Road entrance), London N17 Downhills Shelter Tragedy- Recollections Downhills Shelter Tragedy- Introduction
Downhills Shelter Tragedy- Recollections Only Robert Spire in WW1 seems to be an Old Contemptible with 2nd KRRC. Does the photo in the link show this to be?
