Great War veteran Henry Allingham dies at 113

Henry Allingham, the world’s oldest man who fought for Britain in the First World War, died today aged 113.

Tributes are being paid this morning to Mr Allingham, described by Prince Charles as "one of our nation’s historic treasures".

Mr Allingham died in his sleep at the St Dunstan's care home in Ovingdean near Brighton at 3.10am.

Last month Mr Allingham, a great-great-great grandfather, had celebrated his 113th birthday on board HMS President, surrounded by his family.

He had recently been confirmed as the world’s oldest man and was one of only three remaining servicemen of the First World War.

Born in East London in 1896, Mr Allingham served with the Royal Naval Air Service during the Great War, later transferring to the Royal Air Force. He served at Ypres and was the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland.

He once joked that his longevity was down to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women" but would later admit that he had taken care of himself over the years and respected his own limitations.

He was married to his late wife Dorothy for more than 50 years and had five grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, 14 great-great grandchildren and one great-great-great grandchild.

Paying tribute today Prime Minister Gordon Brown said; "I had the privilege of meeting Henry many times. He was a tremendous character, one of the last representatives of a generation of tremendous characters.

"My thoughts are with his family as they mourn his passing but celebrate his life."

Dennis Goodwin, from the First World War Veterans’ Association, who was a regular visitor to Mr Allingham at St Dunstan’s, said he had lost an “an exceptionally good friend”.

He added: “He left quite a legacy to the nation of memories of what it was like to have been in the First World War.”

The veteran’s charity St Dunstan’s had cared for Mr Allingham since he lost his sight through macular degeneration in 2006.

Helen Emmerson, the care home manager, described him as a strong person but said that he had struggled in recent months

She said: “I think particularly over the last six to nine months definitely he was finding it more and more difficult due to his advancing age. He had such strength and such strength of character. He wanted to get out there and spread the word.”

“He was tireless in his effort to get the word out there.”

Writing the foreword to Mr Allingham’s autobiography, Kitchener’s Last Volunteer, published in 2008, Prince Charles paid tribute to him, saying that his life provided a message of peace and reconciliation.

He wrote: “His life has encapsulated mankind’s prolific and speedy acceleration into the modern era as we know it.”

Mr Allinghams's funeral will take place later this month at St Nicholas' Church in Brighton.

His death means that Harry Patch, 111, the last survivor of the First World War trenches, is now Britain’s oldest man.

Nicknamed the "The Last Tommy", Mr Patch is a veteran of the 1917 Battle of Passchendaele, in which more than 70,000 British troops died.

A third known First World War survivor, Worcestershire-born Claude Choules, 108, who served with the Royal Navy, now lives in Australia.

Some of the key dates in the life of Henry Allingham

June 6, 1896: Henry William Allingham was born in Upper Clapton, East London. He was brought up by his mother and grandparents after his father died from tuberculosis. He left school to become a surgical instrument maker at St Bartholomew's Hospital in central London, before training as a coach-builder.

1914: He was keen to join the war effort, but was persuaded against the idea by his mother. After she died, Mr Allingham enlisted with the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) as a mechanic and body builder. He was sent to Chingford, East London, and Sheerness, Kent, before being posted to Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where he helped to maintain a wide range of aircraft and met his future wife, Dorothy Cater.

January 19, 1915: Mr Allingham experienced Britain's first aerial attack when the Germans, who were aiming for the Humber estuary, launched a Zeppelin raid on Great Yarmouth by mistake.

September 21, 1915: He was formally ranked as an Air Mechanic Second Class.

April 13, 1916: He narrowly missed out on meeting King George VI when he visited Great Yarmouth air station. Mr Allingham moved to nearby Bacton, where night flying was carried out. Later he was involved in supporting anti-submarine patrols from a variety of seaplane carriers.

May 1916: He joined the armed trawler HMT Kingfisher, which carried a Sopwith Schneider seaplane and shadowed the British Grand Fleet during the greatest naval battle of the First World War - the Battle of Jutland.

September 1917: Mr Allingham, now an Air Mechanic First Class, was posted to the Western Front to service and rescue aircraft. When he joined RNAS No 12 Squadron based at St Omer, near Calais, France, it and the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) were already involved in the third Ypres offensive - the Battle of Passchendaele. He was also posted to the Somme.

November 3, 1917: Mr Allingham was sent to a depot in Dunkirk where he spent the rest of the war recovering and repairing aircraft.

April 1, 1918: The RFC and the RNAS amalgamated to form the Royal Air Force (RAF). Mr Allingham was transferred to the service and given the rank of Rigger Aero, Aircraft Mechanic Second Class, and allocated a new service number - 208317.

November 11, 1918: Mr Allingham celebrated Armistice Day in Cologne, Germany, by getting his hair cut.

February 1919: He returned home and was formally discharged two months later. Shortly afterwards, he joined car manufacturer Ford, where he worked until his retirement, and married 22-year-old Miss Cater.

During the Second World War, Mr Allingham worked on weapons development for aircraft maker De Havilland and helped neutralise German magnetic mines.

May 8, 1945: Mr Allingham marked VE Day by turning on all the lights in his house in Essex, and going into the garden to dig.

1960: He retired to a flat in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

1970: His wife Dorothy died.

2003: Mr Allingham received France's highest military award, the Legion d'Honneur.

July 24, 2003: He met the Queen for the first time at a veterans' garden party in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.

June 21, 2004: He was one of the first veterans to receive the HM Armed Forces Veterans' Badge.

August 4, 2004: Mr Allingham led the congregation in the Lord's Prayer at a ceremony to mark the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, Central London.

September 11, 2004: He unveiled a memorial in St Omer to the 4,700 British air personnel who died fighting on the Western Front.

October 6, 2005: He received honorary membership of the Fleet Air Arm Association, which represents those who have served in the Fleet Air Arm - the aircraft division of the Royal Navy from 1937.

November 13, 2005: Mr Allingham attended the annual Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph for the fourth consecutive year.

May 2006: With his eyesight deteriorating, he moved from his flat in Eastbourne to St Dunstan's, a care home for blind ex-servicemen and women, in Ovingdean, near Brighton.

March 2009: He reached a new milestone when he became the oldest ever British man, clocking up 112 years and 296 days.

March 2009: Mr Allingham is awarded an upgraded Legion d'Honneur from French ambassador Maurice Gourdault-Montagne in London.

June 2009: Guinness World Records named Mr Allingham as the world's oldest man following the death of the previous record holder, Tomoji Tanabe, in Japan.