Henry Day

Rank:	Acting Sergeant
Street:	13 Newport Street
Townland:
Town/Village:	Swindon, Wiltshire
Civil Parish:	Templemichael
Catholic Parish:	Templemichael
Country:
Alternative Address:	Longford town; 2 Factory Terrace, Halstead.
Census 1901:	Resident at 7 Newport Street, Swindon (appears to have been recorded as the name Harvey)
Census 1911:	Resident as a boarder at 2 Factory Terrace, Halstead, Essex
Regiment/Unit:	Leinster Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 'D' Company; [Wiltshire Regiment]
Regiment Number:	1225; [13368]
Date of Death:	10-01-1917
Cause:	Killed in action, near Maroc, France
Memorial:	Loos Memorial, Dud Corner Cemetery, Loos-en-Gohelle, Pas-de-Calais, France &
Information:	Henry James Day was born at the Longford barracks on the 5 May 1888. He was named after his Swindon-born father, Henry, who was serving as an Army Sergeant in Longford at the time; Henry's elder brother, Charles, was born in Aldershot, whilst his younger sister, Maud, was born in Athlone. All of his youngest siblings - George, Percy and Sidney - were born in Swindon. By the time of the 1891 Census, the Days were living back in England at Old Swindon. By 1911 Henry was living in Halstead in Essex, and his personal occupation was listed as 'Hotel Boot's' Henry enlisted with the Leinster Regiment in Swindon, and entered the war in France in April 1915. A/Sgt Day was killed while taking part in a raid on German trenches in 'The Triangle' near Maroc in the Loos sector, on the 10 January 1917. He was one of four Leinster Regiment deaths from that engagement. See a description of it by the leader of the raid, Acting Captain Frank Hitchcock in his diary, published as 'Stand To!: a diary of the trenches 1915-1918 (1988), pp 231-45. Henry is commemorated on the Loos Memorial, and on a memorial, originally situated in the Congregational Church in Halstead High Street (now demolished) now located in the Halstead & District Local History Society Museum.
Parents Names:	Son of Sgt. Henry Day and Norah (née Green) of 13, Newport Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, U.K.
Notes:	Our sincere thanks to the Halstead & District Local History Society, and Trevor Beal especially for their assistance, additional information and photographs.
Links:	Link to CWGC entry; link to Civil Record of birth; link to Halstead & District Local History Society website;