In the 1901 census John Day aged 15 was living with his brother Joseph, a 26 year old widower, next door to their parents Walter and Emma Day in Thurgoland, their birthplace. In 1911 Walter and Emma were living at 29 Sheffield Road, Springvale, but John aged 25 could not be found. It is probable he had already left to join the Royal Navy.

HMS Monmouth was sunk in what is known as the “Battle of Coronel” on 1st November 1914, when the British Navy suffered its first defeat for over a century. Monmouth was a cruiser, but was under-armed for a ship of her size, inadequately armoured and too slow to evade attack. The British Squadron for this battle in the South Pacific off the coast of Chile consisted of the Good Hope, Monmouth, Glasgow and Otranto. The German battle order was Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Leipzig, Dresden and Nurberg. Monmouth was badly damaged early in the action, leaving it ablaze and listing to port, whereupon the Nurberg finished her off with over 75 shells at point-blank range. There were no survivors. John Day's body was never found, and he is commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial, panel 3. He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, together with the British and Victory medals.

The British had lost two cruisers and nearly 1,600 crew in the engagement, whereas the only damage to the German squadron was two hits on Scharnhorst, four on Gneisenau and three men wounded.

Janet Dyson