Following some research I discovered that there is a Developer tab that can be displayed on the ribbon, from Word Options on the Office button. With this tab I was able to display the date in a format of my choosing and detail the steps below for novices like me.
Open document > Insert tab> Header> Edit Header> Click on "Year" > Developer tab> Properties> Change title from "Year" to "Date" > Change Locale from English (United States) to English (United Kingdom) > Choose date format from list> OK> Design tab> Close Header and Footer> Save.