Arthur Day
The soldier:
Arthur Day was the first of three brothers to join the British Army and die serving their country (the others being George and Ernest). He enlisted on the 28th August 1906 in Downham Market, Norfolk. He was assigned to the Kings Royal Rifle Corps and was given regimental number 7325 (also 60332).
His occupation was listed as ‘Coachpainter’ at the time and his papers show that he had previous military experience with the 3rd Norfolk Regiment (reserves).
Arthur was posted to numerous places during his service including Winchester, Aldershot and Egypt. Here he served for two years in Khartoum, Alexandria and Cairo (13th February 1907 to 17th May 1909). Like many service families his wife and children followed his UK postings.
In November 1910 he was posted to Gosport and then Aldershot in 1912. He was eventually discharged after 7 years in the army, going in to the Reserve on the 21st August 1913.
Arthur was qualified as a ‘Marksman’ and Physical Fitness Instructor. He was promoted to Sergeant on the 4th January 1911.
With the outbreak of the First World War, Arthur was called back to the army to serve his country once more.
He was killed in action on the 31st October 1914 whilst a Sergeant in the 2nd Battalion of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps.
His name appears on panels 51 and 53 of the Menin Gate Memorial (Ypres) and alongside his brothers on Snettisham’s memorials.
The man:
Arthur Day was born on the 26th March 1889 in Denver, Norfolk to Robert Day and Susan Day (nee Freeman).
He had two older siblings Hannah (1885) and William (1st Dec. 1887).
When he was two, his brother George Robert was born (27th March 1891). George later followed Arthur into the Army, joining in 1909.
In 1892 his sister Ellen (Nell) was born, followed by his sister Florence in 1894 and his brother Ernest on the 11th February 1899 (Ernest also later joined the Army).
In the 1901 Census the family were still living in Denver, Norfolk. His brother Harry was born in June.
In 1907, after he had left the family home for the army, Arthur’s last sister Lily Maud was born, giving him 8 siblings (4 brothers and 4 sisters).
By the 1911 census, 5 years after Arthur joined the army, his parents had moved to Snettisham, Norfolk with his younger siblings Ernest (Ernie), Harry and Lily, all residing in Malt House Yard.
On the 8th December 1909, whilst in the army, at the age of 20, Arthur married Rebecca Elizabeth Garrod (19) of Downham Market, Norfolk.
Their first son, John Robert Day was born on the 24th March 1910 in Downham Market, Norfolk.
By the 1911 census, Arthur and Rebecca had moved to Alverstoke in Hampshire, following his military posting nearby, with Arthur residing at 9, Woodstock Road, Gosport, the home address of Percy Mansfield as a married boarder. His occupation is listed as ‘Kings Royal Rifles’ as is another boarder, John Brabham.
On the 3rd September 1911 Arthur and Rebecca’s second child, Edith Florence was born, in Alverstoke Hampshire.
On the 19th December 1912, Rebecca gave birth to their third child, Dorothy Day in Woolwich, Kent (following Arthur’s posting to Woolwich Barracks).
On the 30th March 1914, the couple have their last child George Oliver Day in Downham Market, Norfolk. The family returning to their ‘home area’ and wider family at the end of Arthur’s army service and his move into the reserves. Correspondence from the army following Arthur’s death shows that Rebecca and the children were residing in Sluice Road, Denver, Norfolk.
By 1920, Rebecca (now a young widow with 4 children) had remarried, (her name now Mrs R. E Bailey) and her and the children had moved to The Common, Attleborough, Norfolk.
It is poignant to note that Arthur’s son George, named after his brother, was born only seven months prior to both George and Arthur’s deaths in the war.
Arthur’s sister Florence died in 1916 in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada and his younger brother Ernest also died in the war on the 31st July 1917.
This meant that in just 3 years (1914-1917) Robert and Susan Day of Snettisham lost four of their 8 children and 3 sons to the war.
pictures of Arthurs’ mother Susan and sister Florence are on his brother George’s story page.
A class picture of Arthur’s brother Ernest is on Ernest’s story page.
