From Susan Day
<
susan.day@wanadoo.fr>
"Poppa" Day wseb site walterpercyday.org
Hello Steve,
[I had emailed Susan with some news about Peter Ellenshaw & asked her
about the Day/Ellenshaw family tree]
No, I'm delighted when people ask me about my family tree, even though by
the time I'm through, they are scratching their heads in bewilderment and
wishing they'd never broached the subject.
Walter Percy Day (1878-1965) was my paternal grandfather. He was first
married to Ada Chandler whom he vowed he would marry when he first saw her
on a street in Luton, when she was about sixteen. She was an adventurous
young lady, as she got a job as a governess with a wealthy Tunisian family
(she must have been courageous to undertake work abroad alone, and in a
Muslim country at that, at the beginning of the century). According to
family lore, she met a wealthy man on the ship on the way out who proposed
to her. So without further ado, Grandad followed her out and married her
in
Tunis in about 1906. They had two sons, Arthur and Thomas (my father), who
later worked for him as draughtsman and cameraman/photographer, respectively
(whence his nickname, in the film industry, "Pop" Day). If you have read
the bio on the Internet, they lived in France for over ten years, from about
1922/23, where my grandmother died of a brain haemorrhage in 1927.
In 1932, the Days returned to England to work for Korda, and took a house
in Iver (Bucks) near the Denham film studio. Peter Ellenshaw was then an
aspiring young painter who lived nearby with his mother, stepfather and
sisters. He dropped by to show his work to my grandfather, who hired him
and trained him as a matte shot painter. Adeline Eyles, Peter's mother,
was
ahead of her time, as she had raised three illegitimate children, of whom
Peter was the youngest. She eventually married James Hook and had a fourth
child, Irene. Peter introduced his mother to Pop Day and the rest they say
is history: she fell in love with him, quit her husband and ultimately
married him. So Pop Day became Peter's stepfather.
But that wasn't the end of the story : in 1939, Peter's half sister Irene
married her step-brother Tom Day, and had me and my sister. So my sister
is my step-cousin, and my parents are my step uncle and aunt, if you see
what I mean...
And in anticipation of the most frequent response to the story,
no, I'm not making it up, and no, I'm not a child of incest!
Best,
Susan
Phew, I've heard of some complicated family trees, but not usually
that complicated outside the European Royal Families :)
I had to draw it all out to make sense of it
Walter Percy Day - (Tunis 1906) - Ada Chandler
(1878-1965) | (? - 1927, Brain Haemorrhage)
|
+-------------+
| |
Arthur Day Thomas Day - (1939) - - - - - - - +
|
|
|
?? Ellenshaw - (unmarried) - Adeline Eyles |
| |
| |
+-----------------+------------+ |
| | | |
?? ?? Peter Ellenshaw |
|
|
James Hook - (??) - Adeline Eyles |
| |
| |
Irene - (1939) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
|
+-------+-------+
| |
Susan Day Susan's sister
Walter Percy Day - (post 1932) - Adeline Eyles
Adopted Peter, Irene & 2 elder siblings
So Susan is quite right, her parents had a different mother and father.
Quite a few members of this tree did work for P&P :-
-
W. Percy Day
-
-
The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
-
associate art director (uncredited)
-
scenic backgrounds (as Percy Day)
-
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
-
additional effects (as Percy Day)
-
Black Narcissus (1947)
-
Special effects
-
Process shots
-
matte painter (uncredited)
-
Peter Ellenshaw
-
-
The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
-
assistant matte artist (uncredited)
-
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
-
assistant matte painter (uncredited)
-
Black Narcissus (1947)
-
assistant matte painter (uncredited)
-
The Red Shoes (1948)
-
assistant matte artist (uncredited)
-
Arthur George Day
-
-
Black Narcissus (1947)
-
matte painter (uncredited)
-
Thomas Sydney Day
-
-
Black Narcissus (1947)
-
matte painter (uncredited)
A very talented family.
