Photo: Brian Chandler

In Tynemouth (Preston) Cemetery is a family headstone which reads:

To the memory of my dear husband
William Middleston Kay,
May 22nd 1880? – July 10th 1934
Also our dear son Alan,
Oct. 31st 1915 – July 20th 1940
Also our dear son Cyril,
May 18th 1918 – lost at sea
on active service Sept. 1943
And Mabel, beloved wife of W.H. Kay
May 5th 1882 – Oct. 11th 1945.

Cyril Kay is remembered in North Shields on N34.09 and on our List of Ships’ crews

The date of death on the headstone appears to be wrong. The CWGC gives the year as 1942, which is the year in which S.S. Empire Beaumont was sunk.

H.M.S. Empire Beaumont
The CWGC entry for Third Engineer Officer Kay