Robert Roland Kay
Second Lieutenant Robert Roland Kay of the Durham Light Infantry was just 19 years old when he was killed in France, just ten short days before he was due to come home on leave. His final letter to his father, written 5 days before he died detailed all the things he planned to do when he returned home.
The official date of his death is 23rd August 1918 however a letter from his orderly to his father stated that he was with Roland when he was killed and that the date was in fact wrong.
He stated that it was the 24th March, Palm Sunday, that he was killed as he recalled Roland saying to him that if they had been in “Blighty” at that moment they would have been at church receiving their palms. Roland has no known grave but is commemorated in Bay 8 of the Arras Memorial.
Roland was the only child of Robert & Bridget Kay who ran the Spread Eagle public house in Dovecot Street.
A sunflower to remember Robert Roland is being grown by Anne Tate. Anne's grandmother was Robert Roland's cousin .
