James Renshaw Day, 1862-1944

David Fisher writes: "My great-grandfather James Renshaw Day was born at Kidlington in Oxfordshire. He was one of four illegitimate children of Ann Day whose family had lived in that area for many years. They moved to Enfield around 1880 and James and his older brother Thomas both worked for the New River Company. At 40 years of age, his mother, Ann married her 25 year old lodger, Charles Matthews and had another child.

Thomas died in 1910 but James lived until 1944 with his wife Sarah in Halifax Road. My late father used to help him with written work when he was a young lad because James was not that literate despite his amazing engineering abilities."

The picture shows him at Palmers Green pumping station on the occasion of his retirement, having received a presentation of a handsome case of pipes and tobacco, as reported in this cutting from the Enfield Gazette, 4th October 1929.