Dec. 7 was once Great Britain Day
Twenty-three years before Japan attacked the U.S. Navy fleet at Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7 already had become a notable day in history.
“The British lion roared in Pittsburg yesterday,” The Pittsburg Press reported on Dec. 8, 1918. “It was British day, and from all parts of Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and West Virginia loyal sons and daughters of the British empire traveled to Pittsburg to take part in the big celebration.”
(While the U.S. Board of Geographic Names had restored the letter “h” to Pittsburgh’s name in 1911, The Pittsburg Press continued to spell it without that letter for another two decades.)
“Britain’s Day,” “British Day” or “Great Britain Day” was commemorated across the United States to mark the contributions of the United Kingdom to victory in what became known as World War I. The conflict had ended less than a month earlier with an armistice on Nov. 11, 1918. “Britain’s Day” events in Pittsburgh included a parade through the Golden Triangle, speeches and music in Exposition Hall and a collection to raise funds for wounded British soldiers and sailors.
The “Britain’s Day” parade began on Liberty Avenue at 11th Street. The Press estimated that about 5,000 British-born Pittsburgh area residents marched past thousands of their cheering neighbors. The reviewing stand at the end of the parade was outside Exposition Hall at Pittsburgh’s Point.
The hall was host to a traveling exhibit of United States and Allied war equipment that included heavy artillery pieces. The “Britain’s Day” parade helped to boost attendance at the war exhibit to a record-breaking 42,000 visitors, The Gazette Times reported on Dec. 9.
Three female riders at the head of the parade paid tribute to the French-British-U.S. alliance that had just defeated Germany and Austria-Hungary. “Among the many interesting features were three pretty young girls costumed as Columbia, Britannia and Joan of Arc,” The Press story said.
“Another feature [of the march] was the presence of Seaman James Joseph Jarvis, formerly of the British navy,” the newspaper reported. “Mr. Jarvis, who lives at 1012 Grand ave., Duquesne … is aged 77 and claims the distinction of being the oldest British sailor in the United States.”
Highlights of the afternoon program included speeches by British soldiers. In their ranks was a regimental sergeant-major named S.L. Glenister. A veteran of four wars, Glenister served in British South African forces and had lost an arm during fighting in the Middle East.
Volunteers from the Pittsburgh branch of a state relief agency, Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania, observed “Britain’s Day” by collecting money in three Downtown theaters to be used for the care of injured British service members. Campaign sites were the Alvin, Davis and Nixon theaters, “Actors in each house will make appeals from the stage between the acts, and committees from the Emergency Aid will be stationed at the exits to receive contributions at both matinee and evening performances,” The Gazette Times reported.
Pittsburgh newspapers also carried reports on “Britain’s Day” events in other cities. One of the nation’s largest commemorations took place in New York City’s Hippodrome, where a message from King George V was read to the crowd. “[The] people of the British empire join with me in thanking you and those associated with you for your efforts in promoting this celebration,” a Gazette Times wire story said on Dec. 9. “In the name of the British empire I thank the people of the United States of America, and I pray that the coming era of peace may find our two nations always united as they are today.”