Colin Sydney William Day was born in Lewisham, the son of a shoe shop manager. Little is known about his architectural training, other than he qualified in the UK in 1932. In 1940 he is recorded as working as an Assistant Architect at the Malaysian Public Works Department, in Singapore, enlisting in the 1st Battalion, Straits Settlements Volunteer Force and serving as a Private until his capture by the Japanese in February 1942. After being held in Singapore for 8 months, he was transferred to a series of camps in Thailand, until his liberation on 2nd August, 1945. He appears to have returned to South East Asia almost immediately after the war and by 1952 was employed as the Honorary Secretary to the Board of Examiners, for the Institute of Architects of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. On his enrolment at the Architectural Association’s Department of Tropical Architecture in 1955, he was described as ‘Senior Architect, Public Works Department’ in Malaysia. He is further recorded as living in Hong Kong, possibly working with the Public Works Department in c1961, but little record of his later career survives. He died in Hong Kong in 1986.

 Sources

• Architectural Association Student Register 1945-1972, AA Archives
• Architectural Association Diploma Roll Book, 1924-1963, AA Archives
• Department of Tropical Architecture, student listing, Otto Koenigsberger Collection, Box OK27, AA Archives
• Architectural Association Members List, 1969, 1979
• The National Archives, London, England, UK; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and Successors: Inwards Passenger Lists; Class: Bt26; Piece: 1261; Item: 187
• The National Archives, London, England, UK; Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and Successors: Inwards Passenger Lists; Class: Bt26; Piece: 1383; Item: 95
• Principal Probate Registry; London, England; Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England
• The National Archives; Kew, London, England; WO 345 Japanese Index Cards of Allied POWs 1942-1947; Reference Number: WO 345/14
• The National Archives; Kew, Surrey, England; WO 344: War Office: Directorate of Military Intelligence: Liberated Prisoner of War Interrogation Questionnaires, 1945-1946; Piece Number: WO344/372/2