Pre-Sales May 8th. Publication June 6th
The Early Life of Alwyn Robinson Day
A Yorkshire Childhood
Growing Up During the First World War
Growing Up During the First World War
Alwyn Day aged four, c.1908.
Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, he grew up in the final years of Edwardian Britain. Within a decade Europe would be engulfed in war.
Growing Up During the First World War
Growing Up During the First World War
Growing Up During the First World War
Alwyn Day, aged twelve, c.1916.
Alwyn grew up during the years of the First World War. By the time he reached adulthood, Britain was a country shaped by loss, economic hardship and the uncertain peace of the inter-war years.
At Home with Bob
Growing Up During the First World War
At Home with Bob
Alwyn in Wakefield, Yorkshire with the family dog.
For many teenage boys in post-First World War Britain, school ended early and work began young. In Alwyn’s case, that early clerical training would later prove valuable in the army.
Young Love
War in Distant Lands
At Home with Bob
Alwyn with Gwen, the detective’s daughter who later became his wife.
Taken during the inter-war years, this photograph captures a moment of ordinary life before the upheaval of the Second World War would separate families across Britain.
Enrolment Day
War in Distant Lands
War in Distant Lands
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Alwyn Day’s enlistment photograph, February 1939.
Alwyn joins the Royal Army Ordnance Corps Supplementary Reserve (RAOC) months before the outbreak of the Second World War.
War in Distant Lands
War in Distant Lands
War in Distant Lands
Corporal Alwyn Day (right) in the Egyptian desert during the Second World War.
He transferred to Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. He travelled across three continents, by ship, truck, train, camel and donkey. Along the way he encountered the Pyramids of Egypt, the golden dome of Qom, and landscapes far removed from those he had known in Yorkshire.
MEDALS FOR SERVICE 1939-1945
OLD MEDALS, NEW MYSTERY
The Hidden Compartment
Shortly after Alwyn’s return, an official letter confirmed that he had qualified for three standard campaign awards: the 1939–45 Star, the War Medal 1939–45 and the Defence Medal. There was nothing unusual in this. They were the quiet acknowledgement of years served, miles travelled and duties carried out. For years, the family assumed that the full medal group was missing. Perhaps the Army had never sent it, or perhaps Alwyn had never claimed it.
In March 2026, however, the original box was examined properly. Behind a carefully constructed false compartment lay the official transmittal letters and the ribbons, folded flat and fitted so precisely that they seemed measured to the space. It felt like something closed and left untouched. Whether the compartment was simply Alwyn’s way of keeping order, or something more private, cannot now be known. What is clear is that he kept the medals complete, yet never wore them in public. Why remains an open question.