Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Reginald Alves was born on 16 October 1896 at Ashburton, the youngest son of George and Christina (née Cowan) Alves. He was educated at Temuka School, his older siblings having been admitted there in January 1896. George Alves had at one time managed Balmoral Station in the Mackenzie Country. In 1896 George and Christina and their young family moved to Temuka. By 1897 he was working as a drover in the Geraldine district, where he suffered a ruptured blood vessel and died suddenly on 1 September. In 1903 young Reginald received a prize at the Temuka Presbyterian Sunday School and another at the Temuka District High School. He gained Competency in the 1911 Standard VI examinations at the Temuka District High School. Reginald Alves was a railway porter at Leeston when he enlisted, naming his mother as next-of kin – Mrs G. Alves, Cass Street, Temuka. Private R. Alves embarked with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion of the 15th Reinforcements on 26 July 1916 at Wellington. ‘Mrs G. Alves, of Cass street, Temuka, has been advised that her son, Private Reginald Alves, of the ]6th Reinforcements, is ill at the 8th Stationary Hospital, Wimereux, suffering from broncho-pneumonia.’ [Press. 22 January 1917]. ‘Mrs G. Alves, Temuka, received a telegram from the Base Records Office yesterday, stating that a further cable message had been received reporting that her son, 15465 Private Reginald Alves, had been removed from the “seriously ill” list.’ [Temuka Leader. 15 February 1917]. ‘Mrs G. Alves, Temuka, received a telegram from the Base Records Office, Wellington, stating a cable had been received that day, reporting that 15465 R. Alves was transferred to the Convalescent Depot, Hornchurch, on 11th May.’ [Temuka Leader. 24 May 1917]. ‘Mrs G. Alves, Temuka,has received word from the Defence Department that her son, Private Reg. Alves, will return home next month. Private Alves went away with the 16th Reinforcements, and was for four months in the firing line before he broke down, suffering from an attack of bronchitis and pneumonia. Since January last until leaving for home he was an inmate of different hospitals in France and England. The voyage should do much to restore his health.’ [Temuka Leader. 1 September 1917]. Refer Temuka Leader, 29 September 1917, 4 August 1931. 15465 Private Reginald Alves, of Temuka, arrived back in New Zealand on 25 September 1917. Mrs Christina Alves, a highly respected woman in the Mackenzie and at Temuka, died at Temuka in April 1929. Reginald died on 5 March 1961, at Lower Hutt, aged 70 years, and was buried in Akatarawa Cemetery, Upper Hutt. An online family tree records that Reginald had married Dorothy Muriel Cornish who died in 1991. Andrew John Alves was probably their son. Reginald’s brother Andrew served in World War One as Arthur Nash.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [16 July 2021; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [16 July 2021]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [16 July 2021]; Akatarawa Cemetery, Upper Hutt, headstone image (Find A Grave) [16 July 2021]; Akatarawa Cemetery, Upper Hutt, headstone image & burial record (Upper Hutt City Council) [20 July 2021]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [20 July 2021]; Timaru Herald, 3 September 1897, 10 April 1929, Lyttelton Times, 3 September 1897, Temuka Leader, 4 September 1897, 1 September 1903, 19 December 1903, 25 January 1912, 15 February 1917, 24 May 1917, 1 September 1917, Press, 22 January 1917, Sun, 25 September 1917 (Papers Past) [17 & 20 July 2021]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.