Didn't read the whole thread, eh, HuwG?**BG** (Just teasin'.) Here's an earlier post which answers your question:

Subject: RE: BS: AluMINium or ALUminum -more fun!
From: Bernard - PM
Date: 02 Nov 02 - 08:30 AM
In The Mudcat Shop: Davy

Facts:

source

While aluminum was discovered by Hans Christian Oersted, Denmark, 1825 (impure form); most credit Wohler with isolating it in1827.

Actually the ancient Greeks and Romans used alum (aluminum sulfate with potassium) in medicine and in dying. de Morveau recognized the base in alum in1761 and proposed it be called alumine. Lavoisier thought that alum was an oxide of this undiscovered metal. In 1807 Davy proposed the name alumium for this undiscovered metal, but it wasn't until 1827 that Wohler actually isolated aluminum, though an impure form was isolated by Oersted two years earlier.

The new metal was called aluminum. Two years later it was changed to aluminium to conform with the "ium" in most other elements. American Chemical Society changed the spelling back to aluminum in 1925, which we still use. England and elsewhere in the world they still spell it aluminium. So if you hear someone say "al-u-min'-i-um foil" instead of aluminum foil, you'll know where it came from.