Leonard Edward Day was born on 25 June 1878, a son of James and Ellen Catherine Day. His birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1878 in the Chelsea Registration District, Middlesex (now Greater London) 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, Middlesex (now Greater London), with his parents, two siblings: Ellen Catherine Day (b.1867) 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 aged 34 years and a postman, living at 104 Offord Road, Barnsbury, London, the home of his widowed sister, Alice.
He married Alice Annie Rose in the 2nd quarter of 1915 in the Islington Registration District, London and they lived at 264 Caledonian Road, King’s Cross, London.
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, Menenstraat, 8902 Ieper, 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 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.
He is shown as 'DAY. L.E.' on the Western Postal District war memorial at Mount Pleasant, London, WC1. He is also commemorated on Page 98 of the 1914-1920 remembrance book of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance, on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website, on the A Street Near You website and the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website. Both the CWGC and the A Street Near You have unfortunately incorrectly quoted his age as 40 years on both their websites and upon his gravestone.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
