Biography of Roy Walter Spurgeon

Born 19 August 1921 while his family lived at 8 Lushington Road, Harlesden, London, to parents Walter James Henry Spurgeon and Nellie Maud Spurgeon. They moved in 1936 to 255 Woodcock Hill, Preston Road, Harrow, Middlesex. Roy went to Roundwood Primary school, then in April 1932 to HEGS (St. Clement Danes Grammar School, Ducane Road, Hammersmith, also known as Holborn Estate Grammar School) where he passed the General Schools (Matriculation) exam and then the Civil Service Exam in 1938, subsequently becoming a clerk at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (in London) for 6 months before starting his civil service career in January 1939. Short-sight frustrated his ambition to join the RAF, so he served in the Air Ministry (TRC,DP2,DDAT) and the (post-war) Ministry for Civil Aviation.

Shy, but a keen cyclist (Log of a cycling tour in the Wye Valley, 1943 & Log of a Cycle Tour To North Wales, 1944), he met his future wife Joan Eileen Lee on 25 March 1944 through friendship with her brother Leslie Lee at the Civil Service Cycling Club, became engaged 15 June 1946, married 14 June 1947, & lived at 52 Cecil Road, Enfield (top flat), where their first son Paul Roy Spurgeon was born on 2 July 1949. On 15 January 1953 the family moved to a new house (12 The Shrublands, Potters Bar, Middlesex), where Paul's brother Graham Leslie Spurgeon was born 18 February 1952.

After becoming an Associate Member of Institute of Transport by exam, he applied to the Ministry of Transport for an overseas posting to the USA, and was sent to Australia to become Assistant to the Civil Aviation Advisor to the UK High Commission. The family left England on the SS Stratheden 18 January 1956, sailing via the Suez Canal, Aden (Yemen), Colombo (Sri Lanka), and Fremantle (Western Australia), arriving in Melbourne several weeks later, where they rented a bungalow at 9 Vunabere Avenue, Bentleigh, Victoria.

He continued to study in the evenings while in Australia, and gained a BSc Econ external degree from the University of London. Following in his father's footsteps, he was a keen camper & caravanner, travelling around Australia and making the most of his visit to the new world. Weekend and long summer trips to beach, bush and mountains, enjoying nature, & stopping for many picnics and barbeques.

In March 1959 the family returned to the UK, sailing from Sydney on SS Himalaya via Aukland (New Zealand), Fiji, and Hawaii to San Francisco, visiting relatives there & in Los Angeles, then by Union Pacific Domeliner across USA to New York, sailing on SS Mauritania to Southampton, and into a temporary rented house at 44 Elmstead Avenue, Wembly, London. While there he designed and commissioned the building of a new bungalow "Cooinda" in Homefield Road, Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, completed in August 1960 (& recently demolished). The family lived there until 20 November 1978 (both boys had left home by then), when he moved with Joan to "Cooinda", 2a Woodrow Drive, Wokingham RG11 1RS.

Roy was a keen DIY enthusiast, spending many hours building furniture, landscaping the garden, adding outbuildings, paths, ponds, trees and plants. During his life he took many photos, made 9.5mm and later 8mm home movies. And he was a Volkswagen enthusiast - at one time the family had 3 VW beetles! He loved watching motor racing, motorcycle speedway, & ice hockey. And board games!

During the first 2 years back in the UK he continued to work for the Ministry of Aviation until retiring in February 1961, when he was appointed Commerial Planning Superintendant for BEA at Ruislip (Personal History: letter of application to BEA 1960). His career in BEA continued for 19 years, spanning the merged with BOAC to become British Airways, and culminating in a position as Assistant General Manager for Southern & Western Europe (planning routes & services).

After retiring in February 1980 he continued to travel around the world, caravanning in the UK & Europe, became an enthusiastic bird watcher, supported the local branch of the RSPB, researched the Spurgeon family tree & Wokingham local history, and gave informal slide-show lectures about his travels. He died on 9 December 1985 soon after returning from a trip to Australia, due to complications following appendicitis. His ashes were scattered on 13 December 1985 in the Silver Birch Copse at Easthampstead Park Cemetry & Crematorium.

Biography written by Paul Spurgeon November 2020. CV written by Roy (original). See also: Roy Spurgeon's certificates & map timeline.