55 Facts About Henry Allingham

Henry William Allingham was an English supercentenarian.

Henry Allingham is the longest-lived man ever recorded from the United Kingdom, a First World War veteran, and, for one month, the verified oldest living man in the world.

Henry Allingham is the second-oldest military veteran ever, and at the time of his death was the 12th-verified oldest man of all time.

Henry Allingham was the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland, the last-surviving member of the Royal Naval Air Service, and the last-surviving founding member of the Royal Air Force.

Henry Allingham received many honours and awards for his First World War service and, towards the end of his life, his longevity.

Henry Allingham was born on 6 June 1896 in Clapton, County of London.

Henry Allingham's mother remarried in 1905 to Hubert George Higgs and in 1907 the family moved to Clapham, London.

Henry Allingham attended a London County Council school before attending the Regent Street Polytechnic.

On leaving school, Henry Allingham started work as a trainee surgical instrument maker at St Bartholomew's Hospital.

Henry Allingham did not find this job very interesting, and so left to work for a coachbuilder specialising in car bodies.

Henry Allingham wanted to join the war effort in August 1914 as a despatch rider, but his critically ill mother managed to persuade him to stay at home and look after her.

However, after his mother died in 1915, aged 42, Henry Allingham enlisted with the Royal Naval Air Service.

Henry Allingham became formally rated as an Air Mechanic Second Class on 21 September 1915, and was posted to Chingford before completing his training at Sheerness, Kent.

Henry Allingham later reported disappointment at narrowly missing an opportunity to speak to the King.

Henry Allingham worked in Bacton, Norfolk, further up the coast, where night-flying was conducted and was later involved in supporting anti-submarine patrols.

When Henry Allingham arrived at Petite-Synthe, both the Royal Flying Corps and the RNAS were involved in the Ypres offensive.

Henry Allingham recalls being bombed from the air and shelled from both the land and the sea.

Henry Allingham transferred to the Royal Air Force when the RNAS and the RFC were merged on 1 April 1918.

Henry Allingham returned to the Home Establishment in February 1919 and was formally discharged to the RAF Reserve on 16 April 1919.

Henry Allingham started his longest stretch of employment in 1934 designing new car bodies for the Ford Motor Company at their Dagenham plant which had opened only a few years previously in 1931.

Henry Allingham met Dorothy Cator in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk in 1918.

At the time of his death Henry Allingham believed that Betty had died.

Henry Allingham had lost touch with her in the 1970s following a family rift after the death of his wife in 1970; however she was still alive aged 88 when her father died, and living in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Henry Allingham attended, together with three other First World War veterans, William Stone, Fred Lloyd and John Oborne.

Henry Allingham marched past the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday in 2005 and laid wreaths at memorials in Saint-Omer on Armistice Day.

In November 2005, Henry Allingham accepted an invitation from the International Holographic Portrait Archive to have his holographic portrait taken.

Henry Allingham's image was recorded for posterity in December 2005.

Henry Allingham was awarded the freedom of his home town of Eastbourne by the mayor on 21 April 2006.

Henry Allingham lived in his own home until May 2006 when, one month before his 110th birthday and with failing eyesight, he moved to Blind Veterans UK, a charity for blind ex-service personnel, at Ovingdean, near Brighton.

Henry Allingham attended the 1 July 2006 commemorations at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.

Henry Allingham did not attend the 2006 Remembrance Day parade on 11 November at the Cenotaph as he was in France at a wreath-laying ceremony and to receive the Freedom of The Town of Saint-Omer.

Henry Allingham did launch the Eastbourne Poppy Appeal before leaving for this trip.

On 18 April 2007 Henry Allingham visited Wilnecote High School in Tamworth, Staffordshire to answer students' questions about the First World War, after they wrote to the few surviving veterans asking them about their experiences.

Between his 110th and 111th birthdays Henry Allingham made over 60 public appearances, including a visit to The Oval on 5 June 2007, the day before his 111th birthday, where he was wheeled around the boundary in front of the spectators.

On 1 April 2008, the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Royal Air Force, Henry Allingham was a guest of honour at the celebratory events at RAF Odiham in Hampshire.

Henry Allingham celebrated his 112th birthday with members of his family at RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire as the guest of honour at a luncheon at the college.

In June 2008, as part of the National Veterans' Day celebrations, Henry Allingham was given a guided tour of the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft at BAE Systems in Warton, Lancashire.

On 23 September 2008, Henry Allingham launched a book about his life, co-written by Denis Goodwin, with an event at the RAF Club in London.

On 11 November 2008, marking the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War, together with Harry Patch and Bill Stone, Henry Allingham laid a commemorative wreath for the Act of Remembrance at The Cenotaph in London.

Henry Allingham was invested as a Scout on 18 November 2008,100 years after he first joined as a youth.

Henry Allingham said he was only able to spend six weeks with his local group as a boy.

Henry Allingham received a signed birthday card from First Sea Lord Sir Jonathon Band and saw a Mark 8 Royal Navy Lynx flying overhead while he was sitting outside in his wheelchair.

Henry Allingham was the oldest living man in England for several years.

On 8 February 2007, when 110-year-old Antonio Pierro died, Henry Allingham became the oldest known living veteran of the First World War, and the third-oldest living man in the world.

Henry Allingham overtook George Frederick Ives as the longest-lived member of the British Armed Forces on 2 November 2007.

Henry Allingham was therefore the longest-lived British First World War veteran to date.

Henry Allingham was the first ever British man to reach the verified age of 113.

On 18 July 2009, Henry Allingham died of natural causes aged 113 years and 42 days.

In Harry Patch's book The Last Fighting Tommy, the author claims that Henry Allingham planned to leave his body to medical science.

Henry Allingham was awarded four medals, two of which were medals from the First World War.

Henry Allingham was awarded France's highest military honour, the Legion d'honneur, in which he was appointed a chevalier in 2003 and promoted to officier in 2009.

Henry Allingham's funeral took place at St Nicholas' Church, Brighton at noon on 30 July 2009, with full military honours.

Henry Allingham's coffin was carried by three Royal Navy seamen and three RAF airmen.

Senior Royal Navy and Royal Air Force officers, including Vice-Admiral Sir Adrian Johns and Air Vice-Marshal Peter Dye, represented the two services of which Henry Allingham had been a member.

Henry Allingham's surviving daughter, Betty Hankin, 89, attended the funeral, with several members of her family.