If it had become known to the railway ompany that he had served a prison sentance he would not have been in railway employment for more than a few further hours in that era.
In theory yes. Yet somehow he managed to overcome this issue - perhaps the change of ID helped?
On that basis for now I take his declarations on birth certificates and family knowledge as the gospel truth. However, he appeared to have a loose arrangement with such facts - so who knows.
FYI.
On Sunday I asked my Mother if she was aware her Father might have been in the Navy? No response. Much later, on the journey home, she tells me ''he was in the Army, NOT the Navy, he worked with an old Army friend...''
Then.... ''I don't know why, but I have a feeling he might have been in jail or something...''
She can't add anything else to these snippets. The first might not mean anything in reality, but the second is interesting.
I heard that Eric may have found letters to Arthur from his father calling him to go back to Germany to fight in the War, how true that is I'm unsure, though in some regards it would make sense as to why he seemed to appear without any certificates etc, I believe if the letters exist they are with his widow now? I'm going to be seeing betty myself on tuesday so hopefully I can find out more about it.
