Source: We are the Dead. Note that headstone says 10th Battalion.
Family Search: When Private Joseph Washington Kay was born on 22 August 1889, in Newcastle upon Tyne St Peter, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom, his father, Robert Cromwell Kay, was 30 and his mother, Jane Isabell, was 22. He immigrated to Canada in 1913 and lived in Toronto, York, Ontario, Canada in 1915. In 1915, at the age of 26, his occupation is listed as railroad clerk, grand trunk railway in Toronto, York, Ontario, Canada. He died on 20 July 1917, in Lens, Pas-de-Calais, France, at the age of 27, and was buried in Sains-en-Gohelle, Pas-de-Calais, France.
Private Joseph Washington Kay, reg. no. 769182.
This man enlisted with the 124th Battalion at Toronto, Ontario on 27 December 1915.
He was a railroad clerk for the Grand Trunk Railway following the Baptist faith and lived in 272 Grace Street, Toronto, Ontario at the time of his enlistment.
He arrived in England on 18 August 1916. He was transferred to the 18th Battalion on 10 October 1916 and arrived “in the field” 6 January 1917 after suffering illness requiring treatment.
He was attached to the 2nd Canadian Divisional Pack Mule Company for a while and returned to the 18th Battalion where he was killed in action on 20 July 1917.
His Circumstances of Death card relate:
“Killed in Action” While on duty in the front line trenches near Lens at about 2.30 o’clock in the morning of July 20th, 1917, he was hit in the head and shoulders and instantly killed by shrapnel from an enemy shell.”
STAR BRINGS SAD NEWS
The Star brought the first news to the home of Pte. J.W. Kay, 272 Grace street, that he had been killed at the front. Pte. Kay Enlisted in Col. Barker’s battalion and went overseas at the end of May, 1916. He was 30 years of age, unmarried, and employed on the G.T.R.
Source: Toronto Star – August 7th, 1917
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 
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