CCHU9026 - Cultures of Violence: Making Sense of the Human Fighting Instinct
Individual Essay

The autobiography Kitchener's Last Volunteer: The Life of Henry Allingham, the Oldest Surviving Veteran of the Great War is picked for this essay to express an analytical and critical view about the oldest World War I soldier – Henry Allingham. The autobiography depicts the life of this veteran and his achievements in detailed and is co-authored by Dennis Goodwin, the founder the First World War Veterans' Association, who helped more than 200 veterans to produce their self-portrayal.

Henry William Allingham was a First World War veteran and also the 12th-verified oldest man alive in the world. However, he passed away one month after receiving the …show more content…
His dad, Henry Thomas Allingham, passed away due to tuberculosis when he is just a 14-month-old infant. Since then, Henry lived with his grandparents, his brother and his mum, who is a laundry woman, at Walthamstow. After his mother’s remarriage, they moved to Clapham then to Lambeth when his stepfather working away from home as a wheelwright. Henry studied in a London County Council school and was next admitted into the Regent Street Polytechnic. At that time, Allingham witnessed the return of volunteers from the Second Boer War, which became the first thing that interested him to be a soldier. Upon graduating from school, Allingham started working as a trainee in manufacturing medical devices at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Finding this job quite boring, he quitted and worked for a coach-building company which specialized in car bodies …show more content…
In August 1914, Allingham originally wished to be a military messenger, called despatch rider in Britain at that time, to contribute the country, but his seriously ill mother dissuaded him from doing so. He then stayed at home to take care his mother. His mother subsequently died in 1915 at the age of 42. Afterward, Allingham joined the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). In 1915, he is appraised as an 2nd Class air technician and was transferred to Chingford. At last, he graduated from his training at Sheerness, Kent.

Upon completion of his training, Allingham serviced as an airliner-preserving technician in the Air Station at Great Yarmouth, where King George V once made a special visit in 1916. Allingham expressed this regret of missing the chance to meet the king in this autobiography.
In the course of the Battle of Jutland in 1916, Allingham serviced in a vessel called HMT Kingfisher. The responsibility of Allingham is to drive the seaplane onboard to patrol the sea. Despite the fact that the vessel was not directly involved in the battle but it coverd other ships for protection instead, Henry is still recognized as the last survivor of this