Reginald Alvin had previously served as 47886, Private, Royal Army Medical Corps. He was born in Headingley in Leeds on 30 June 1896.

Arthur Reginald Alvin was the oldest of four sons to Louis and Alice Louise Alvin (nee Eyre). There was Arthur Reginald (known as Reginald or Reg) born on 30 June 1896. He was followed by Sydney Louis, born in 1898, then Charles Stanley Alvin and then there was Harold Denis B Alvin who was named only as “Infant” on the 1901 census and given his age as 1 month. This information correlates with the entry for Harold in the births register for the 2^nd quarter of 1901. Louis and Alice married in the 2^nd quarter of 1896 and the marriage has the reference Leeds 9b 926 in the register.  He was educated at Cockburn High School, followed by Henderson’s Business Training Institute, following which he entered his father’s timber business as a clerk.

Reginald Alvin enlisted for the duration of the war on 12^th January 1915 at the age of 19 years and 7 months. His medical examination established that he stood 5’3” tall and weighed in at 101 lbs – a very slight 7 stone, 3 lbs. In addition it was noted that he had lost the end of the big toe of the left foot, but the cause remains a mystery. During Reginald Alvin’s service in the ranks he was posted to 6^th Stationary Hospital which was based at Le Havre between December 1914 and May 1916 when it moved to Fillievres in Jun 1916, staying there until August 1918. It was from Fillievres that Reginald Alvin departed to join no. 20 Officer Cadet Battalion.

When Reginald Alvin applied for a commission, his first choice was the West Yorkshire Regiment, however as we have already seen he was commissioned into the York and Lancaster Regiment, a regiment whose recruiting heartland was based in South Yorkshire. The tragically famous battalions of the Barnsley Pals and the Sheffield City Battalion belonged to the York and Lancaster Regiment. At the time of his disembodiment from the Army he was serving attached to the 9^th Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment which was a service battalion of “Kitchener’s Army” raised in Preston from September 1914.

At some stage during the war, his family moved house, from “Rose Villa”, which stood at the top end of Main Street, close to the site of the War Memorial,  to Scholes Hall, which stood in its own grounds on Main Street between Badger Terrace and The Barleycorn Inn on the opposite side of the road to the church. The Hall occupied the lower portion of the land where the sheltered housing complex is on Belle Vue Road. The row of houses closest to Main Street is roughly where the front of the Hall stood.

After he returned from the war he married Agnes W Hirst in 1923 and they lived in The Avenue, Scholes, until 1928 when they moved to Laneside, Barwick in Elmet. By 1939 they were living at 14 West Park Drive, Roundhay. The 1951 Leeds Telephone Directory shows that Reg and Agnes had moved to Oak Lodge on Street Lane. They had a son, John Peter R Alvin on 27th April 1926 (Q2 Tadcaster 9c 1738). John Alvin died in November 1998.

Reginald Alvin died at his home on Park Lane, Roundhay, Leeds, from Bronchial Cancer on 22 March 1975.

Like his father before him Reginald Alvin had made his living as a timber merchant in the family company called Alvin, Morris & Co. which was based in Black Bull Street, Leeds.