SKELTON - IN - CLEVELAND
IN HISTORY

"WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"
30517 Company Serjeant Major WALTER EDWARD DAY.

78th Coy, Royal Garrison Artillery.

Died, age 42, on the 23rd May 1919.

Born at Skelton and enlisted at Middlesbrough.

Son of Sarah Ann Day, of 2, Cromwell Rd, York, and the late William Day.


Kranji Memorial, Singapore.

FAMILY:-
1881. Walter E Day, aged 4, was living at 12 Brewery Tce, Skelton Green, N Yorks.
(Brewery Tce was the old name for Trout Hall Lane.)
His father, William, aged 31, also born in Skelton was an Ironstone miner.
His mother Sarah, aged 31, came from Wilton, N Yorks. By 1901 she had had 11 children and 10 were still living in 1911.
Walter had two sisters, Emily H, aged 2 and Charlotte, 7 months.

1901. The family had moved to 33 Boosbeck Rd and had 7 more children.
William H, age 17, a Horsedriver in the Mines. Mabel N, age 14. John G, age 12. Sarah E, age 9. Kate L, age 7. James Horace, age 5. and Miriam I, age 2.
Walter by this time had presumably joined the Regular Army.
James Horace Day, was killed on the 31st October 1914, while serving with the Royal Field Artillery. [see memorial on previous page].

1911. Walter was serving in Malta, as a Sergeant, with the 102nd Company of the Royal Garrison Artillery.
His civilian occupation prior to enlistment is given as Ironstone Miner.
ATTESTATION:-
Walter's attestation paper below shows that he enlisted at Middlesbrough, aged 22 yrs 3 months, on the 2nd October 1898.
Before the First War the Regular Army's job was policing the outposts of the British Empire.
In 1903/4 he served for a year, as an Instructor in Sierra Leone, W Africa.
WAR SITUATION
From April to December 1915, he served in France with 13th Siege Battery, R Garrison Artillery.
The Division to which this Unit was attached, not yet found.
In April 1916 he received a posting to 78 Company, RGA which probably saved him from mutilation on the Western Front, for that Unit was serving in Singapore.
In February 1915 there had been a mutiny of Muslim Indian troops out there, who decided that they were fighting on the wrong side when Muslim Turkey joined Germany in the War. It was was severely put down with executions.
Walter served out there until his death from disease on the 23rd May 1919.
MEMORIAL
Kranji War Cemetery is 22 kilometres north of the city of Singapore, on the north side of Singapore Island overlooking the Straits of Johore. There are 64 First War burials.


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