George Day was serving with the 12th Bn., Royal Fusiliers, when he was killed in action on Tuesday 31 July 1917. He had enlisted at Whitehall and was an early casualty of the Battle of Passchendaele. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate at Ypres. He was therefore one of the 54,896 men who died in the Ypres Salient before 16 August 1917 and have no known grave. Those who died afterwards are commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.
He was the son of Thomas Day and his wife Emma (née Jones), who were married at Codicote in 1879. George was born at home on 10 February 1891 and was baptised at St. Mary’s, Welwyn, on 7 June; when the census was taken in that year he was one month old. He was therefore 26 when he died.
The family home in 1891, 1901 and 1911 was in one of the White Hill cottages. They were therefore neighbours of the Harwoods in the end cottage. In the new churchyard are buried James and Ella Day. James was George’s elder brother; he was born in 1887 and was also in the army in the Great War. Ella died on 8 January 1935 aged 46 and James died on 10 February 1967 aged 79.