Source: Blog Comment
My great grandfather James Clarke reg.# 159607 joined the 81st Battalion 15 Nov 1915 and upon arrival in England in 1916 was transferred to the 18th Battalion. I have just viewed his records. He became very ill with bronchitis in the spring of 1917 and was sent back to England where it seems he was transferred from one hospital to another until he was discharged and sent back to Canada in the fall of 1917.
James Clarke had 7 yrs previous service with East Lancashire Regiment and emigrated with his family to Canada sometime between 1911 and 1914 (haven’t found the records yet). He lied about his age when he filled out his attestation papers in Toronto. He was actually born in 1868 not 1877. We believe he may have served in the Boer war but haven’t seen his British record of service. I would love to see the war diary for the 10 month period that he was with the 18th. I believe that would have been June or July 1916 to Mar or Apr 1917.
War Diary of the 18th Battalion CEF 
I have completed the transcription of the war diaries and they are available at this site and at archives,org. It appears he was buried at the Beaches in Toronto and I have updated his profile on Find-A-Grave. If you have any more information on this soldier please contact me.