Private 27191 Alfred Cuthbert Amyes 2 Company, 2nd Battalion, Canterbury Regiment NZEF was born 5th October 1885 at Kirwee, Canterbury, New Zealand; one of five children (three boys and two girls), the son of Alfred Amyes (1851 to 1941) and Elizabeth Anne nee Hancock (1852 to 1928).

The family were farmers at Kirwee, where the children went to school, before moving to Haswell near Christchurch and eventually to Motukaika Cave, South Canterbury. Alfred and his siblings attended Kirwee Public School. Alfred (Junior) continued to work with the sheep on the farm until he enlisted 31st May 1916.

Following enlistment, he travelled to the North Island for training with the 17th Reinforcements, following which they travelled to Wellington for embarkation the HMNZT “Devon” on the 25 September 1916, travelling via Durban, South Africa, to top up the ship’s coal supplies and arriving at Devonport, England, on 26 November 1916.

Following further training on Salisbury Plain, he proceeded to France on 9 December 1916. However, he fell ill the following March and was evacuated back to the UK and was diagnosed with otitis media = inflammation of the middle ear. Following treatment, he was admitted to the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces Convalescent Hospital at Hornchurch in Essex, he was released to active service on 26 May 1917.

Proceeding to France on 11 July, he was posted to his regiment in Belgium on 13 September. He was killed in action on the 12th October 1917, taking part in an attack on enemy trenches. Private Amyes has no known grave and is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial. He is also remembered on the impressive War Memorial at Motukaika Cave, New Zealand.

The inscription on the Motukaika Cave Memorial reads :- "So long as the rocks endure and grass grows and water runs, so long will this stone bear witness that through this low pass in the hills, men from Cave, Cannington and Motukaika districts rode and walked on their way to the Great European War, 1914-1918, and to World War II, 1939-1945. Some of them have not returned but have left their mortal remains in foreign lands and strange seas, that our British way of living may continue. But their immortal souls have risen from the grave." The names of the dead of both world wars are recorded along with the names of those who served and returned.