Death has removed a well-known and highly-respected figure in the public life of Luton, in the person of Mr Alfred Thomas Loose, the respected keeper of the Town Hall, wrote the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph (January 18th, 1919). The sad event occurred on Wednesday, following an illness which had extended over more than a year.

Mr Loose had suffered considerably from internal trouble and had undergone operations, but the relief derived from these proved only temporary, and he died at the age of 57. He leaves a widow [Sarah Elizabeth] and one daughter [Maud].

For 34 years Mr Loose has been in the service of the Luton Corporation, entering at the time when Mr G. W. Gilder filled the Mayoral chair [1884-85]. He held office at the outset as foreman of the town's lighting installation, and after 15 years in that position was appointed resident caretaker of the municipal buildings, an office he retained until the last.

For over 20 years of the period the deceased was a member of the Luton Fire Brigade, and well earned the medal and two bars awarded for a score of years spent in fire-fighting work. The Brigade is very different now from what it was in those days, but Mr Loose retained the liveliest interest in its progress and welfare and spoke with pride of its present day equipment and efficiency.

Great developments have been seen, too, in the town's municipal life and activities since the day when Mr Loose first took up duty as the 'man in possession' at the Town Hall. Council and committee work has grown apace, and the advent of war – with the constitution of the multifarious organisations necessary to cope with an unprecedented situation – added largely to the duties of his office.

Yet with mundane matter changing all around him, Mr Loose remained unaltered. He was courteous, gentlemanly and obliging while he remained in office – master, rather than the victim of his circumstances. No one who went to him for advice appealed in vain. No one who came in contact with him, in public or in private capacity, held him in aught but the highest regard.

Mr Loose's recollections of Luton's Mayors were of an extended character. Those under whom he served were Messrs G. W. Gilder, W. Mayles, H. Blundell, S. Weatherhead, P. Alexander, A. Toyer, E. Oakley, A. Hucklesby, S. Bird, G. Warren, L. Giddings, C. H. Osborne, A. A. Oakley, G. Ordish, H. Arnold, A. Wilkinson, H. O. Williams, W. J. Primett, J. H. Staddon, C. Dillingham and, finally, the present occupant of the chair, Councillor H. Impey.

The funeral of Lambeth-born Mr Loose was fixed for Saturday, January 18th, 1919, at Luton General Cemetery.