Gunner Leonard Edward Day was born on the 25th June 1878, the son of James and Ellen Catherine Day. His birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1878 in the Chelsea registration district and his father was a Dock Constable having previously served as a corporal in the Grenadier Guards.
In the 1881 census he was shown as living at 1 Ingleheim Place, West Ferry Road, Poplar, with his parents, two siblings: Ellen C. Day and Arthur Day, together with a lodger.
In October 1905 he was appointed as a Postman in London’s Western District Office and in the 1911 census he was shown as living at 104 Offord Road, Barnesbury, London. In 1915 he married Alice Annie Rose in Islingon and they lived at 264 Caledonian Road, King’s Cross.
He joined the Royal Field Artillery, service number 233919, and was attached to the 25th Battery, 135th Brigade, when he was killed in action, aged 39 years, on the 16th October 1917. He was buried near where he died but was subsequently exhumed and reburied in Plot 2, Row E, Grave 1, at the Hooge Crater Cemetery, Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium.
On 20 June 1918 his widow was sent his army effects totalling £6-15s-9d and on 12 November 1919 she was given his £3-0s-0d war gratuity. He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He is also commemorated on Page 98 of the 1914-1920 remembrance book of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance and on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website. The CWGC have unfortunately incorrectly quoted his age as 40 years on both their website and his gravestone.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
