Here are some of the key dates in the life of Henry Allingham, who, for a few weeks, was the world’s oldest man.

● 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 coachbuilder.

● 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.

He was sent to Chingford, East London, and Sheerness before being posted to Great Yarmouth where he helped maintain a 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 V 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 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 repair aircraft.

When he joined RNAS No 12 Squadron based at St Omer, near Calais 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.

He married 22- year-old Miss Cater and joined car manufacturer Ford where he worked until his retirement.

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.

● 1960: He retired to a flat in Eastbourne.

● 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 garden party for veterans 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.

● April 21, 2006: He received the freedom of Eastbourne.

● May 2006: With his eyesight deteriorating, he moved from his flat in Eastbourne to St Dunstan’s, a care home for blind exservicemen and women, in Ovingdean, 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.