Henry Allingham
Henry Allingham (born
June 6,
1896) is one of the few
surviving British veterans of
World War I. He is also believed to be Britain's longest-lived member of the armed forces ever, and Britain's oldest living man.He is the last survivor of the
Battle of Jutland as well as the last surviving founding member of the
RAF. Allingham credits "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women — and a good sense of humour" for his longevity.
He was born in
Clapham, and his father died when he was only 14 months old. Brought up by his mother and grandparents, he attended the London County Council School, before going to work as a surgical instrument maker at
St Barts Hospital. However, he did not find this job very interesting, and so left to join a coachbuilders specialising in car bodies.
Henry wanted to join the war effort in August 1914 as a
Despatch Rider, but his mother managed to persuade him to stay at home and look after her. However, after his mother died Henry joined the
RNAS. He became formally rated as an
Air Mechanic Second Class on
September 21 1915 and was posted to
Chingford before completing his training.
After graduation Henry joined the RNAS Air Station at
Great Yarmouth. On
April 13 1916 King George V inspected the Air Station and its aircraft. Henry was disappointed when the king turned and left just before he would have had his chance to speak to him. Henry also worked in
Bacton, Norfolk, further up the coast, where night-flying was conducted.
In May 1916 he was ordered to join
HMS Kingfisher, which was carrying a
Sopwith seaplane, where he was still posted when the Battle of Jutland began. Although the trawler was not directly involved in the battle (it shadowed the
British Grand Fleet and then the
High Seas Fleet) Henry can still make a proper claim to be the last known survivor of that battle.
In September 1917 Henry, by now an Air Mechanic First Class, was posted to the
Western Front to join No. 12 Squadron (RNAS). This unit acted as a training squadron for other RNAS squadrons based on the Western Front. There is also some evidence that the squadron was involved in operations. When Henry arrived at
Petite-Synthe both the
RFC and the RNAS were involved in the
Ypres offensive.
On
November 12 1917 he was posted to the Aircraft Depot at
Dunkirk, where he stayed for the rest of the war, on aircraft repair and recovery duties.
He transferred to the Royal Air Force when the RNAS and the RFC were merged on
April 1 1918. At that time he was ranked as a Rigger Aero, Aircraft Mechanic Second Class and was given a new service number - 208317. He is believed to be the last surviving founding member of the RAF.
Henry returned to the Home Establishment in February 1919 and was formally discharged to the RAF Reserve on
April 16 1919. After this he joined
Ford, where he worked until his retirement.
Shortly after being discharged Henry married Dorothy, whom he had met at Great Yarmouth. This marriage lasted 53 years and produced two daughters. Henry now has six grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren, 13 great, great grandchildren and one great, great, great grandchild, all but one of whom live in the United States of America.
During
World War II Henry was in a reserved occupation and worked on a number of different projects. The most significant of these was perhaps the effort to provide an effective counter-measure to the
German magnetic
mines. During his
Christmas lunch in 1939 he was called away to help come up with a system that would neutralise the mines and open the port of
Harwich. Nine days later Henry returned after successfully completing this task.
As the last surviving member of the British Air Services and the aforementioned last living founder member of the RAF Henry was an honoured guest when the British Air Services Memorial was unveiled on
September 11 2004. The group of RAF technical trainees that joined him at this ceremony continue to visit Henry at his retirement home in
Eastbourne, demonstrating the bond of respect that these men have for Henry, made even more remarkable since almost 90 years separate these young trainees from Mr. Allingham. During this time Henry was given the Gold Medal of St-Omer, which marked the award of the Freedom of the Town.
Henry was one of only four British WWI veterans who attended the ceremony at the
Cenotaph in
London to mark 90 years since Britain entered the First World War. The ceremony took place on
August 4 2004. He also marched past the Cenotaph on
Remembrance Sunday in 2005 and laid wreaths at memorials in St Omer on
Armistice Day.
He was awarded the
freedom of his home town of
Eastbourne by the mayor on
April 21 2006.
A couple of weeks later on, in May, he moved to St Dunstan's (www.st-dunstans.org.uk), a charity providing support, rehabilitation and respite care for for blind ex-service personnel, at Ovingdean, near
Brighton.
He turned 110 another month later.
Mr. Allingham attended the
July 1 commemorations at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing in 2006.
Emmeline Brice (former oldest living person in the
UK, died July 2006 at age 111)
Surviving veterans of the First World War*
BBC News report on Henry Allingham *
British Air Services Memorial at St Omer*
BBC News report on the award of the freedom of Eastbourne*
Mirror article: Secret of long life by WWI vet, 109*
Fly-past for Britain's oldest man*
Britain's oldest veteran recalls WWI*
Cricket's oldest fan
