A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A WARTIME HOUSEWIFE: EVERYDAY LIFE IN LONDON, ENGLAND, 1941
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION SECOND WORLD WAR OFFICIAL COLLECTION

February 1941

Official photograph

Official photograph

A striking portrait of Mrs Day and her cat 'Little One'. 'Little One' is wearing a NARPAC collar. According to the original Ministry of Information caption, the National Air Raid Precautions for Animals Committee was "an animal lover's voluntary wartime organisation that ensures that, should he stray in blitz or black-out, he will be returned safely to his owner".

Mrs Olive G Day, according to her ID card, (which is featured in D 2344), lived at 42 Drayton Gardens, South Kensington, SW10 and also had a home at 21 Meadway, Gidea Park, Romford, Essex. This is part of a posed Ministry of Information sequence used to illustrate the life of a housewife, but there is some confusion over whether 'Mrs Day' really is Mrs Day, or is simply an actress, or MoI model, as she is also featured in D 1065 - D 1070 as 'Girl in Library' and in D 4735 'Saying goodbye', showing her hugging her Royal Naval husband goodbye. Initially, I assumed that this sequence (D 2353 - D 2386) was entirely fabricated for the Ministry's purposes, including the name given to this 'wartime housewife'. However, it is possible that the woman named here as 'Mrs Day' really was Mrs Olive Day, as her husband is named as Lieutenant Kenneth Day of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. A search of other photographs in the IWM collection has revealed that a Lt K J Day served on HMS BELFAST (A 21370, HU 45626 and HU 45627), and it is possible that this is the same person. In addition to this, the original MoI caption for D 2379 showing Mrs Day at work states that she works in a war-time organisation, so it is possible that she was a Ministry of Information employee and was chosen at various times to be the subject of MoI photographs. (EJC, 16 March 2005). These photographs were taken in mid to late February 1941. This is confirmed by a poster featured in D 2376, which states that 'Gas Mask Week' runs between 17 and 23 February 1941.